


Be Mine

by PsychicDash



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound, Mother 3
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2020-03-26 18:12:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 67,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19011166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychicDash/pseuds/PsychicDash
Summary: Pairing: Ness/ClausNess has been in love with Claus ever since they met when they were kids. However, when Ness shows Claus his love in a rather blunt way, Claus has no idea how to react. Will he accept Ness' feelings, or will he reject them completely? With the help of friends and his own emotional will, can he?





	1. Relentless Motives

**Author's Note:**

> New Ness x Claus story! It is a school life AU. Hope you guys enjoy!  
> Warning: Rated M

"N-Nng..." Claus shuffled uncomfortably. He stared daggers at the boy in front of him as he had his arms pinned against the cold, merciless wall. No matter what he did, he couldn't get out of the grasp he was in because the boy facing him had his body pressed against him, putting him in a perfect lock. Frigid sweat drops went down the nape of Claus' neck as he trembled in his state of submission.

"Why won't you just give in already?" asked the boy, tightening his grip on Claus' wrists.

The orange haired boy grimaced at the pain it had over him. "Because... this is disgusting. You're disgusting..!" he spat. He shifted furiously in an attempt to escape, but failed. "LET ME GO, NESS!"

The hatted boy furrowed his eyebrows. "No." He carefully neared his head toward Claus until he was close enough to feel the boy's breaths graze against his face. Claus turned his head away and closed his eyes as a deep blush enveloped his cheeks. Ness smirked. "And how could you say this is disgusting, if you're enjoying it?"

Claus whimpered, opening his eyes a bit to look at Ness. "I-I'm not."

"Is that so..." Ness trails off. He began to lean his head toward Claus' ear, gently cooing into it, "I can feel it pressing against my leg."

Claus gave a small cry as he shuffled his legs. "Quit screwing around with me!" He tried his best to stand his ground. "This isn't funny!"

"Who said I was trying to get a laugh out of it?" Ness muttered, purposely letting his voice resonate against Claus' ear and his breath trail down his exposed neck. He slowly rubbed his thigh up and down against the bulge in the other's orange denim shorts.

Claus moaned lightly, staring at Ness with unwanted lust in his eyes. He breathed in and out heavily, trying to slow down his increasing heart rate. In the spur of the moment, he couldn't help but move his hips against Ness' thigh. He gasped in pleasure, while at the same time feeling disgusted in himself for doing such a thing. He bit down his lip as his eyes started to become half-lidded.

Ness smirked, continuing his actions. "You like that, don't you?" he says, loosening one of his hands from Claus' wrist. That left only one hand to pin down the other's wrist, making it easy for him to free his hands from its captivity. However, being caught up in the pleasure, Claus paid no mind to the chance he was given.

Once one of Ness' hands were off, he slyly brought it down to Claus' zipper. From there, he stopped the movement of his thigh, and instead traced a finger over the outline of Claus' bulge, making his length throb from the small touch. The orange haired boy trembled, but that didn't stop Ness in the slightest. Claus hated everything he was doing to him. Everything. But… it felt so good.

"You're being so obedient now..." Ness told him with satisfaction. He smiled darkly and his eyes narrowed. "But let's just see how obedient you could be..." He took ahold of the zipper to Claus' shorts, and pulled it down only halfway. Being surprised at how Ness wasn't removing his pants, his eyes stared at the the hatted one with impatience and lust. Claus cried softly.

"Say 'Please' first~" Ness sang devilishly. He fiddled with the zipper latch.

Claus hesitated, then spoke a while after. "...N-No!" he resisted. However, the feeling of his length pressing against his small, tight shorts started hurting. A red blush came across his face that perfectly described his discomfort, and his desire to release.

"Just one little word Claus~" Ness continued, rubbing a teasing finger across the concealed head of Claus' member.

Tears started welling up in Claus' emerald eyes; Ness was being such a bully. He couldn't take it anymore. "P-Please, Ness..." he muttered. Humiliation and shame flowed through his very core after what he just said there, but he couldn't help it.

"Good boy..." Ness praised, making a single tear fall out of the orange haired boy's eyes. With that, he unzipped the rest of the zipper, and pulled down his shorts halfway, their legs locked together. A chill ran down Claus' back, as he felt the cold air of the boy's locker room brush across his most sensitive spot.

Claus' length perked up from beneath his clothing; part of its head showed through the already made hole in his boxers. The orange haired boy gasped in relief of the tight pain. He blushed in embarrassment as he turned his head away from Ness shyly.

Ness brought his forehead closer to Claus', staring down at it. "So hot..." He used his free hand to inch down Claus' boxers. When it was down enough to reveal his whole erection, Ness wrapped his hand around the boy's delicate shaft.

Claus moaned sharply at the touch. He mentally cursed at himself for doing that.

Ness snickered, liking the reaction the other boy gave. Then he began sliding his hand up and down his slick member. Claus moaned even more, but tried his best not to let Ness hear them. All that was heard was his heavy breathing and soft cries.

Enjoying every moment of it, Ness leaned his head towards Claus' face in attempt to lock their lips together. However, the feisty and submissive boy turned his head before he could. A little bothered by that, Ness instead neared his mouth toward the side of Claus' neck and nipped on it with the tips of his front teeth. He felt the boy's erection start throbbing in his hands.

Claus grimaced sensually at the stinging pain. He turned his neck weakly, trying to stop him. However, in the current state he was in, it didn't work.

Thinking that Claus was being hurt, Ness stopped his biting, and stuck out his wet tongue. He gently pressed his delicate tongue against the boy's pink tinted neck, and licked the part he nibbled on. From that action, Claus stopped turning his head. He froze there, slowly lifting his head up in arousement, unknowingly giving Ness more space to move his tongue. Taking that chance, the hatted boy trailed his tongue across the satin-like skin of the other's neck. Loud whimpers escaped the crack of Claus' mouth, while at the same time, Ness increased the speed of his hand, masturbating the other boy's member to the brink of pleasure.

Claus cried aloud, only sounding more passionate as he released his cum into Ness' hand. After he did, Ness stopped all he was doing, and lifted his hand up for him and Claus to see.

"You came a lot, didn't you?" he asked the obvious, trying to embarrass the other. The boy showed him his hand, stretching his fingers and making the sticky cum flow all over his palm.

Having released, Claus was now able to think straight, and gain control of his body again. Although he was a bit tired and weakened, he managed to get out of Ness' grasp. "G-Get off!" He pushed the other harshly off of him. Ness backed away a few feet and wiped the cum off onto the side of his denim shorts carelessly.

Claus pulled up his boxers and shorts on with haste. A thick blush invaded his face. He glowered at the other as he bunched his fingers into a weak fist and aimed it at him. "FUCK YOU!"

However, Ness easily dodged the punch, and grabbed onto his wrist while it whistled by. Claus flustered, trying to yank his wrist out of Ness' hand. Panic and fear overcame him, making him somewhat stronger than he was a few seconds ago. Claus was able to break away from the other, but still being a little bit thrown off by the grab, he stumbled backwards and landed on his back.

"C-Claus!" The hatted boy called to him with sudden worry. Ness created a look of concern as he approached Claus with a helping hand. Claus sat himself up quickly and declined him by slapping his hand away.

"Don't fucking TOUCH ME!" he shouted as he furrowed his eyebrows.

Ness stood there feeling bad for the other, with his facial expression showing none of those feelings. He neared Claus with no other intention but helping him.

Claus flinched at his movement. He wanted nothing more than to get away from him. And he figured that right now was the perfect time, while Ness didn't have him restrained. Thoughts ran through his head on what to do. Since trying to fight back against Ness wasn't going to work due to the fact that he was exceptionally strong, he had to come up with something else. That something was to run away.

Following that, Claus snapped up onto his feet and ran around Ness, shoving him to the side in the process. The other boy got knocked into the gym lockers lightly. He then jerked his head in Claus' direction, only to find that he picked up his backpack, swung it over his shoulder, and started heading towards the exit of the locker room.

He held his hand out to him. "WAIT! CLAUS! I'm sor-"

_BANG!_

The doors slammed closed just like that, before he even got to finish his sentence. Ness brought his hand back down to his side as he hung his head down. He stared down at the tile floor, defeated. Regret and sadness was all that he felt. Regret because of what he just did to Claus.

He messed up big this time.

* * *

Claus ran through the school hallways rapidly, raising suspicion from teachers he passed by, but he paid no mind to it. His body felt too disgusting for him to care. He... He couldn't believe Ness just did that to him! He thought Ness was his best friend! They've been friends ever since first grade; and from there, they've stuck together like glue. Always hanging around each other, helping the both of themselves out when needed, bonding. Now Ness decided to pop in and force himself on him. The orange haired boy flustered over the subject. Why did he even do that? Clearly, clearly he was just messing around with him, nothing more. Other than that, Claus couldn't figure anything else out.

Rage and sadness were the only feelings left inside the boy now as he kept on running. And being sidetracked by those feelings, he didn't notice he was charging into a boy.

The one boy he was charging into barely had time to dodge, considering he was carrying a lot of books in his arms that basically towered over his head. "OH NO-" The orange haired boy crashed into him.

"ACK!" they both cried, falling back. The other boy dropped his books in the process. A pulsing pain struck the sides of their noses, and cheek bone. Both of them rubbed their faces in pain.

Still a little bit mad because of Ness, Claus used his anger on the boy. "Watch where you're fucking going next time, shit!" he yelled angrily.

"I-I'm sorry I was just-"

They remove their hands away from their faces, and see each other. Once they did, they gasped and smiled brightly at one another.

"Hey Claus!" the boy greeted.

"What's up, Jeff?" Claus stood up, and happily offered the boy a hand. Jeff took it and got up. He dusted his green pants off momentarily, straightened out his bow tie, and fixed his glasses. Claus rolled his eyes playfully at the boy's neatness.

When he was done, Jeff spoke. "I'm doing good! I was just grabbing some books from the library..." His eyes wandered around the floor. Just now, he noticed that he just dropped his mass of books. "Whoops... Eheheeh..." Jeff rubs the back of his head embarrassingly. Claus laughed at that.

"Sorry about that Jeffy! Here, I'll help you pick em up." Claus started going around, picking up the dropped books. Jeff did too, but slower. When all the books were off the ground, Claus held more of them than Jeff in his arms. Jeff carried like, 3 thin books.

"Woah Jeff! How many books do you even need?!" Claus asked feeling the books weighing down on his arms. Jeff giggled.

"You know how much I like to read, Claus! It's only natural to take this much from the school's library!" he replied. "O-Oh, and give me some to carry, you have more than me."

When Jeff tried to take some books from Claus, the red-head turned his handful away. Claus snickered, and winked at his friend.

"Don't worry, I got it," he assured. "Now where to?"

"My dad's car, of course! Where did you think I was going? School ended about an hour ago," Jeff pointed out.

"Wait, it did?" Claus' eyes widened, having forgotten about that due to Ness. "Then that means... OH CRAP! MY BUS!" He panicked.

"Eh? How could you just forget something so important as your bus?" Jeff asked.

Thoughts of Ness and the things he did to him, returned. "Because of r-reasons..." He blushes and looks away. Jeff raised his eyebrow suspiciously at the boy.

"It's alright Claus, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Jeff flashes him a warm smile that also came with the shine of his glasses. "Hey, I could ask my dad if you could get a ride."

Claus smiles at him back. "Oh, thanks Jeff! You're a life-saver!" The boy felt relieved. Then they both walked off towards the exit of the school building with Jeff leading the way. And feeling that the pile of books in his hands were somewhat heavy, a small drop of sweat rolled down the side of Claus' head by the time they reached the exit. When there, Jeff pushed the door open and held it open for his shaky friend. Once Claus was out of the building, Jeff closed the door and continued leading the way again. They crossed over the black asphalt of the parking lot and towards the grey sidewalk, where they stood there waiting for Jeff's dad to come pick them up.

The boy with the glasses slid his sleeve higher and inspected his fancy wrist watch. "Yeah, he should be here any second now." He fixed his glasses again before looking around.

"Alright," Claus agreed, trying not to sound tired from carrying these heavy books.

A few moments later, a hovercraft literally appeared out of thin air, right in front of them. Claus flinched while letting out a tiny scream.

The doors to the hovercraft opened. And within it was Dr. Andonuts. "Hello, son!" He smiled brightly through his clean, white beard. "C'mon in! Oh, and who's that boy next to you?"

Jeff climbs into the hovercraft. "My friend Claus. And I was kinda wondering if you could give him a ride home..." Jeff rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, of course I can! I don't mind." Dr. Andonuts gave Claus an accepting nod, telling him to get on. And the boy did, dropping the books inside before putting himself in. When inside, Claus was introduced to a high tech decorated car-like layout. Wait, no, not even. It wasn't car-like on the inside or out. Inside, it looked like a tiny lab with silver cushioned chairs with seat belts.

Claus' mouth dropped open as he took a seat on the comfortable chair next to his friend. "Damn! Where the heck did you get the funding for all THIS?!"

Jeff smiled sheepishly. "Oh, you know, places."

By then, the hovercraft started moving. It was a smooth ride, nearly therapeutic. From pure instinct, Claus kicked back on his seat and slouched pleasurably, letting his eyelids flutter closed. Jeff looked over at his friend, ready to say something, however, after seeing him in such a peaceful state, he didn't want to bother him.

Staying that way for nearly the whole ride, Jeff took the time to read through some of the books he got from the library while chatting quietly with his reliable dad. They exchanged smiles and hearty laughs. A few moments later, they all reached their destination, Claus' house in a lively, yet peaceful town called Onett. Claus and his family moved here when he and Lucas had just turned 5. They had to because their dad got a promotion (which had  _way_  better pay), and is now working at a company located in Onett. Claus was sad he had to leave his childhood friend Fuel, but he assumed it was for the best and just dealt with it. Everything turned out better than expected when first arriving here, and it was fun too, to be honest. However, that took a huge blow to Claus' face starting, well, today.

Jeff put his mouth really close to Claus' ear. "...CLAUS!"

His voice rang in the orange haired boy's ear drum and made him snap up from his little nap. "W-WHAT?!"

"You're home!" The four-eyed boy chuckled non-stop, laying a playful punch to the side of Claus' arm. The other boy groaned.

"Not. funny," Claus replied, with a playful tone. "You do realize that now that you have done that, I'm going to have to get back at you."

Jeff stopped his chuckling fest, and became wide-eyed.

"HAHA! Just kidding! Later, ol' Jeffy!" Claus got up from his seat, and headed towards the door he came out of. Dr. Andonuts happily opened the door for him by flipping a lever. With that, Claus jumped out of the hovercraft and waved goodbye to Jeff.

Jeff waved back. "Have a pleasant day, Claus! See you at school tomorrow!" After those words, the doors closed shut and his dad's hovercraft zoomed off.

Claus took a moment to see him off, and then turned around and faced his house. The brownish-tanned color of the house gave him the feeling of comfort, and the clean creaky porch gave him the feeling of familiarity. He liked those two feelings. It was those two feelings that- when put together- made a person feel welcome. Something he used to feel with Ness-

The orange haired boy shook his head intensely. Why, WHY did he have to remind himself of his "friend", now? The time he has spent with Jeff happened to get his mind off of that one boy, but it wasn't until now that he has realized that he could never shake off the experiences and mixed feelings on him, ever again. It was like a scar that has healed, but the mark remains there in sight. Even now, after reflecting back on what has happened for a few seconds, it has started piling up a mass of unknown emotions inside Claus.

A sigh escaped his mouth. He just wants to put an end to this. He wished he could just forget everything.

After a second or two, he proceeded toward and up the porch, where he rang the doorbell.

Half-heartedly, Claus yelled, "Mom, Lucas, I'm home!" Afterwards, he heard tiny little footsteps heading down the stairs. When those footsteps neared the door, the figure unlocked the latch and opened the door.

"Hey Claus!" greeted Lucas. Claus spared a look at his brother, nodded, and then passed right by him and ran up the stairs. Once ascended up the flight of stairs, he bent around the stair railing and entered his room, where he slammed the door shut and locked it. He flung his light backpack to the side of his bed and flopped his body onto his puffy white and blue patterned bed. He remained in the position for a few moments. Right now, he didn't want to do anything, let alone, move. He was too tired. Both emotionally... and physically.

" _Why_  did Ness have to do that?!" Claus shouted, letting his voice resonate throughout the whole house. Not once was he able to keep his voice down from yelling anything. If he had something to say, he'd say it right there and then, and loudly too. He acts more upon emotion than actual thought.

Luckily, right now, his mother was napping and his father was at work, so that only leaves Lucas, who was standing directly behind Claus' locked door. Apparently, he followed Claus all the way to his room to find out what's wrong.

"Why did Ness do what?" Lucas' muffled voice reached Claus.

Claus ignored Lucas' question, until Lucas persisted. "What did Ness do? Are you alright Claus?" he asked worriedly.

Claus groaned. "GO AWAY LUCAS! N-ess did nothing!" His voice cracked when saying Ness' name.

"Aw, c'mon! I know something's wrong! Did you and Ness get into a fight?" Lucas assumed.

_Yes, we did. And what a fight it was,_ thought Claus. He felt a blush creeping onto his cheeks as his eyebrows furrowed madly. In the end, he replied nothing back to Lucas.

The blond twin sighed. He knew he shouldn't be the one assuming things, especially if they might not be true, but right now, he figured anything might be some kind of help to his brother. "Hey Claus, if you and Ness  _did_  get into a fight, just... Just try to talk it out or something. You and Ness have been best friends since forever, and Ness is a pretty understanding and nice guy, right?"

In an instant, Claus opened the door, staring daggers at Lucas. Lucas jumped away in surprise, covering his face in defense.

"Understanding?" Claus said angrily. Slowly and threateningly, he tooks steps forward which made Lucas back up.

"Nice?" the orange haired boy continued.

By then, Lucas' back was pinned against the stair railing.

"HAVE YOU EVEN MET HIM?!" Claus let his voice raise higher than it should've. But for the next following sentences, his voice was put into a mad whisper. "Look, Lucas. Don't go instigating things before hearing what actually happened. It's pissing me off." He looked at Lucas dead in the eye. He kept doing so, that is, until he started seeing tears filling up in Lucas' eyes. When he saw that, he immediately backed away from his brother.

Lucas sniffled through his tiny cries. "I..I-I just thought I could help... I-I'm sorry, I'll leave you alone." He stumbled away from Claus. Soon enough, tears flowed down his cheeks from being yelled at from his brother.

"No, Lucas. Wait!" Claus called. But Lucas was already locked up in his room.

Afterwards, Claus slowly returned to his room and onto his bed. He felt utterly guilty and mad at himself.

_I didn't mean to make Lucas cry, I just- Ness is so- UGH!_

Claus reached for his pillow and buried his face in it.

_IT'S ALL NESS' FAULT!_

That's what Claus thought. If Ness didn't do what he did today, he'd be in better shape than he was now. Because after doing what he did, that made Claus realize one thing Ness has thrown away.

A perfect friendship that was more important to Claus than it was to Ness. Because of the things that have happened, nothing can possibly be the same between those two again.

_Goddammit,_ he cursed.


	2. Sincerely Detested

Claus wasn't looking forward to the next day at all. He just wanted to stay asleep forever, or maybe even die in his sleep. There was just too many problems that he didn't wanna face. He thought it was really pathetic, but if he could, he'd run away from all his problems instead of facing it head on.

He sat himself up from his bed and stretched his arms out satisfyingly. A yawn blew through his lips as he scratched his head, messing up his bed hair even more than it was when he woke up. Today, in this one morning, absolutely nothing drove him to do anything more than that. So he just let his body lay back down. Slowly, his eyes started to close once again, until a knocking came to his door.

"Claus!" yelled his mother, Hinawa. "Time for school! You better get ready!" She continued knocking harshly.

Claus groaned. "No!" He flipped his blanket over his head. These kind of mornings were nothing new. In fact, it happens all the time. Except today, Claus really,  _really_  didn't want to go to school. Or else he'd see...  _him._

Hinawa sighed. Then she did what happened to be the everyday routine. She reached into a little pocket on her neat red dress and pulled out Claus' room key. Then she inserted it into the doorknob, and opened the door.

"Claus, sweetie." She sat on the side of his bed and shook his body that was under the thick blanket. "Please get ready," she used the most sincere voice she could muster.

"M-Mom..." Claus' resistance softened after hearing his mother's voice. "Please... I really don't wanna go to school today. Can't I just skip today?" His voice was muffled from beneath the blanket.

Hinawa sighed once again. "I'm sorry, but no. You know that you have tests coming up! You need to go to school to be prepared for them." Usually, by now, Claus would've gotten up, but he didn't. So his mother had to resolve to tearing off his blanket.

"MOOOM!" Claus whined.

"Stop whining! You're 14 years old now," Hinawa snapped gently. "Get ready. Now."

After that, Claus just gave in. Looks like fighting against his mom wouldn't get him anywhere. So he got up rudely, and stomped towards the bathroom. Inside, he did the usual. Used the bathroom, brushed his teeth, showered, and put on his clean clothes (which was already set up by his mom the night before). It always takes him about 30 to 45 minutes to get done.

When he was done, he opened the door, feeling very fresh. But... not as fresh as those other mornings. He effortlessly walked down the stairs, letting his feet drag, and his weight hit the ground at full capacity. At first, he thought walking down the stairs was agonizing, that is, until he walked into the kitchen, where he and Lucas (who was sitting at the table) made eye contact almost instantly.

However, they both broke away half a second later. Claus continued on his way, and sat on the table too, one seat away from Lucas. Normally, he sat right next to him, but the two haven't talked since yesterday's argument.

"..."

Not a single word was spoken. The twins were too scared and uncomfortable to talk to each other.

"Hm? You two seem quiet today," Hinawa, who was cooking omelettes in the kitchen, commented. A few more slow seconds passed by, until she spoke again. "Did something happen?"

"Nah, we're just tired," Claus said nonchalantly, trying not to hint his nervousness. Hinawa bought it.

"Oh, well you two should get more sleep, you know!" Hinawa encouraged sweetly. By that time, she was done making breakfast, and served the two boys their plates, while ruffling their hair in the process. Despite how it caused the two's hair to mess up a little, that little action brought a warm and happy feeling to them.

When she was done serving them, she served herself, and sat on the other side of the table, facing the boys. All was quiet the whole time they were eating. Only the sounds of forks hitting glass plates and chewing were present.

Once that was over and the plates were tossed into the sink, Lucas and Claus went upstairs to fetch their backpacks. Hinawa, in the meanwhile, was washing the dishes.

The moment the twins got down, they had their backpacks settled on their backs, and headed to the door. There, they put on the shoes that were laying on the ground neatly. The two were just about to head out the door to their bus stop, but before they did, they ran back into their house and gave their mother a tight hug.

"Bye mom! I love you!" they both said. Hinawa forgot the dishes for a second to hug them back just as tight.

"I love you both too," she said warmly and lovingly. Then she kissed both of their foreheads. "Now go to your bus stop now." She smiled as those two nodded happily, and waved them off.

"Bye!" they said one more farewell, then out the door they were. Hinawa resumed her dishes again, hoping for them to have a good day.

Once they were outside and walking down the clean, grey sidewalk, they still didn't talk. Silence filled the air in big clumps, and both started to feel guilty in a way. Claus because he felt bad for letting his anger take control of him and for yelling at his brother, and Lucas for upsetting his brother in the first place. Due to that, they were pretty scared to converse. They couldn't even look at each other either. What makes it even all the worse is that they  _had_ to walk together too, in Claus' opinion. He'd leave Lucas to walk by himself, but even a helpless brother like him could find a way to hurt himself (or by someone else), so he's stuck. This continued on until they made it to their stop. There, they still couldn't speak a word.

Claus sighed. He couldn't take any more of the silence, or the guilt.

"Lucas..." he started. Lucas flinched, and jerked his head toward his orange-haired brother in surprise.

"Y-Yeah?" Lucas asked, still scared.

"I'm sorry," Claus went straight to the point, "for yelling at you and making you cry."

Lucas winced. "N-No! I'm sorry! For making you mad... I didn't mean to." He rubbed the side of his arm. "Maybe I should've thought before I said anything about Ness..."

"Nah, it's okay Lucas. I'm not mad anymore. If anything, you should be pissed off at me."

"But I'm not! I never was! Y-You just scared me for a second! I just tried helping you about Ness and- oh! By the way, what  _did_  happen between you and Ness?"

Claus froze, his heart starts beating rapidly in one go. "W-We, e-err..." A blush crept up his cheeks.

By that time, the bus arrived.

"O-Oh look! Our bus is here!" exclaimed Claus, feeling relieved. But he knew that feeling would only last for a few seconds because he and Lucas... sit together.

Climbing into the yellow school bus one-by-one, with Lucas following right behind Claus, they made it to the middle where their usual seat laid. The two scooted into their seat, which took place to the left side of the bus, and pressed their backs against the blue cushion chairs in relief. A few seconds went by, until Lucas brought their previous conversation back to life.

"So what happened between you and Ness?" Lucas began, with a hint of curiosity in his voice. Claus grimaced, and purposely turned his head towards the window to prevent himself from looking at Lucas in the eye.

"I don't want to talk about it." Claus tightened his fists that laid carelessly on his thighs. Lucas pouted.

"Oh, pleeeassseee?" The blond pleaded. "You said we could always tell each other anything! Why won't you tell me it now?"

Claus said nothing. He couldn't, that is. If he told Lucas, what would he think? What would he feel? Would he hate Ness for doing those things to him? Or would he even... hate Claus himself more for letting him do that to him? No. Claus couldn't risk anything, especially Lucas, his one special brother. What happened between him and Ness will stay between him and Ness. Lucas couldn't help in any way even if he told him.

"Claus..." Lucas poked his brother on the arm. Claus sighed, and turned his head towards his brother. Because of that, Lucas became a little uneasy.

"Lucas, I'm sorry, I can't tell you. I know you care, but some things were just meant to be kept to themselves," Claus said sincerely. He vowed to himself that he wouldn't lose his temper again like he did last night, even if he was getting a bit annoyed of Lucas' persistency.

Lucas thought for a second, and just decided to let it pass. "...Okay..." he understood. He figured it would be best if he'd just give him some time, and then ask him later.

And just like that, their little topic ended. Once it did, the two went onto their separate activities, with Lucas reading a book, and with Claus doing the homework he forgot to do the night before. This lasted until their bus made it all the way to their high school, also known as Onett High School. For short, it's OHS. Right when they got there, Claus finished the last question on his math homework and was now stuffing his materials sloppily back into his backpack.

_Whoosh!_

The bus doors opened, and everyone began standing up and exiting. Lucas slid out, giving some space for Claus to get out too. Then they both walked through and out of the crowded bus. Reaching the outside of the bus, a mild breeze greeted them, whipping their colored hair back and forth. It was middle of September, and even now, they could feel the chill that October was going to supply for them next month.

Lucas stretched his arms out. "Ah~! Finally! Off of the loud and congested bus..." he said satisfyingly. "It's really hard to read in there, if you ask me."

"You kidding me? With the bus constantly jiggling over the rocky road, it's hard to even  _write_! I'm lucky to even get done with my homework in time!" Claus replied, also happy that he's off that bus of torture.

That earned a chuckle from Lucas. From that point and so on, they conversed between each other as they walked into the building of OHS with other bus riders. As they entered, noise levels started getting higher, and everyone that came off the bus started to departure into other areas of the school. Some went to their first period classes, some grouped together and talked, some went to the cafeteria to chill and eat breakfast, and the rest did just about anything you're able to do before school starts.

"H-Hey! You guys! Waaaaait!" a voice called. Not sure if that voice was directed towards them, Claus and Lucas stopped in their tracks, and looked around. Nothing.

"I'm over here you two!" At that moment, Jeff poked Claus on the side, surprising the boy. Claus shrieked a little because he was ticklish on his side. He jumped away. Lucas giggled at the two.

"Hi Jeff!" Lucas greeted cheerfully, now relieved that he knew where the voice was coming from. "You're early today."

Jeff smiled at the blonde. "Yes, yes I am. My dad dropped me off early because he had some work to get to." The green suited boy could feel Claus staring him down angrily. He smiled as he continued his conversation with Lucas. "Let me guess, you guys took the bus?"

"Yeah, we did," Claus popped in. He was thinking of getting revenge on Jeff, but he just wasn't in the mood to, so he let it pass.

"Knew it!" replied Jeff. "Soooooo... Before I saw you two, I was planning on heading to the library, anyone wanna come?"

"Yes!" Lucas agreed. He and Claus had no idea in mind what they were going to do until the bell rang for first period anyways.

"Ew. No," Claus contradicted. They were his friends, but even he has limits. And going to a library was a big no-no. After all, that place was meant for  _nerds._  He passed a look over to Jeff and Lucas, who were, in his opinion, a perfect nerd couple. One that would certainly win a Science Fair in the snap of their fingers. He shook his head mentally at the sight.

"Then where are you gonna go then?" Jeff asked. Claus merely shrugged.

"Anywhere  _but_  the library." Claus stuck his hands into the spacey pockets of his orange denim shorts.

"Eh, okay, whatever's good with you," Jeff accepted. "Don't slack on homework this year."

"Yeah, yeah," Claus said nonchalantly. Then he went off on his own.

To be honest, the library being a place for nerds wasn't the only reason Claus didn't want to go. But... He needed to see Ness. He couldn't figure out why, let alone  _what_  he's going to do when he's face-to-face with him. He just decided that he'd improvise when the time came. However, it's not like he had any before plans. Maybe,  _just_  maybe, he'd get to punch Ness in the face when he got to him.

Claus walked through the building, curving corners of hallways the were crowded with teenagers his age, or older. On the way, he past his first period's room. Like everyday, because he was so lazy, he dropped his backpack off at his desk and left it. Of course he said "Hi" to his teacher, a brunette that teaches English. She happily said "Hi" back and continued preparing the room for today's class assignments. Afterwards, he left. He already knows his teacher would watch over his things, and that's what he liked about her. Other than that, he  _hated_  English.

Then he continued on his way, passing more and more teachers and students. On the other hand, as he approached the place he and Ness usually met up at, the teenagers and teachers were slowly decreasing in amount. That's because the place they picked to meet up was secret. They both preferred a place where other students wouldn't make so much noise or bother them. They'd rather hang out with each other, and only each other.

The orange-haired teen finally reached a door at the ends of the school building. From there, he exited. Outside, the sun's rays blared at him suddenly, and the slight wind brushed his satin-like skin. Continuing forth, he walked past a few rows of portables outside, then to a green field, often used for soccer or any other sport. Next to the field were old bench tables that were shaded by a huge canopy. And sitting at one of the tables was Ness.

Seeing Ness so suddenly, Claus backed away and hid behind the portables that was nearby. He peeked his head out carefully and stared. Right now, that boy was wearing his usual get up. Red and blue baseball hat, denim shorts, and blue and yellow striped shirt. Also, he sat the opposite way of the bench, letting his back slouch against the sturdy table, and his backpack lay lazily on top of it. He had his earphones in, listening to his iPod and looking around every now and then. It seemed like he was waiting for someone. And that only someone could be Claus.

Although, right at the last second, the orange-haired boy thought about turning back. He couldn't do it, he just couldn't. In the end, he couldn't figure out what to do, what to tell him. Was Ness being serious yesterday? Was he playing a joke? A horrible joke? How was he feeling? Was he mad at Claus for some reason?

Claus' head filled with questions desperately wanting to be answered. Questions that he'd never find the answers to without a straightforward conversation with Ness. Claus gulped. He started his way back inside the school. However, letting his thoughts take over and not being careful about where he was going, he bumped into a nearby trash can and it fell to the floor, making an agonizingly loud sound.

Ness looked up from his iPod, and took out his earphones. Apparently, the sound pierced through even his earphones. He looked around for a bit. After a while, he discovered his friend, who froze in place.

"...Claus...?" Ness said, surprised. He didn't really expect him to come by. "Claus!"

Claus made eye contact with Ness, unmoving. His face burned a powerful pink as he saw his friend moving towards him at a pace faster than usual.

_...Should he run?_

The twin made a decision to run, but he couldn't. He was stuck in place, but he didn't know what was keeping him. Maybe his fear? No, it wasn't that. It was something else. He and Ness were best friends. He couldn't just avoid him and run.

By then, Ness was standing right in front of him. "Claus... I didn't know you'd come."

Claus said nothing. All he did was stare in his friend's brilliant violet eyes. Almost gawking. Ness could practically feel how uncomfortable he was, so he continued.

"Listen... I'm sorry about what I did yesterday. I couldn't stop myself. I just... I just..." He hung his head down, bare of words.

All it took was that sentence to find Claus' voice again. However, the next things that came out weren't really on the  _nice_  side.

"...'Sorry'?"

Ness raised his head back up, only to find an angry, and somewhat feisty expression on Claus' face. He started getting worried.

"SORRY?!" Claus yelled. "How could you?!" His eyes began to tear up from the emotions he has pent up recently. "You ruined everything!" he yelled, letting some of his tears roll down his cheeks.

From that response, Ness noticed something that he failed to notice any sooner. Throughout all that's happened yesterday, one emotion he has failed to notice from Claus was the fact that he was...  _scared._

"I-I'm sorry!" Ness stuttered, not being able to handle his crying best friend. He came closer and brought Claus into a tight hug. Never once in his life has he ever regretted anything more than making Claus cry. "I'm sorry Claus. I'm so, so, sorry," he whispered those words into the other's ear.

"N-NO!" Claus pushed Ness off. He looked him dead in the eye. "Don't. Touch. Me. Ever. Again," he said madly.

Ness suffered from those words, but didn't show it. He couldn't find anything to say, so Claus continued on.

"I don't even understand... why? Why did you do that?" Claus asked.

Ness looked away. A pink tint covered his cheeks. "You don't notice?"

"Notice what?"

"You're so dense..." Ness grabbed Claus by the shoulders. "I  _love_  you, Claus!"

The twin stood there, frozen and confused. " _What...?_ "

Ness sighed. "Do you really need me to repeat it for the second time?"

"No! It's just that... You're horrible at telling jokes." Claus faked a laugh. But when he saw the serious look on Ness' face, he stopped.

"You think this is a  _joke_?" Ness asked, feeling offended. Claus could already tell that it wasn't, but he kept on going, holding onto those false hopes that Ness really  _was_  joking.

"Y-Yes..." Claus gulped. He had a feeling he was making his friend mad, which he was.

From hearing that, Ness impulsively pushed Claus onto the field of grass just next to them, and pinned him down.

Catching Claus by surprise, he barely had any time to react. The only thing the twin could do was gasp. Now, he couldn't move. He tried kicking his legs, moving his arms, but nothing happened. Ness has weighed himself down on him. It didn't hurt, but it put Claus in the state of panic.

_N-No..._  Claus thought. He stared up at Ness, carefully disguising his fear right now. He blushed.

Ness slowly neared his face closer to Claus'. Closer and closer until they could feel their breaths crashing into each other's. From that, Claus' heart started beating faster and harder, as the memories of what Ness did to him yesterday came back into his head. Unknowingly, he became aroused.

The hatted one had his eyes set on the one under him the whole time. Never once has he disconnected the eye contact. Claus stared back. The lustrous green and the intense violet colors of the boys' eyes joined together.

However, it didn't last for long. Surprising Claus, Ness brought his mouth towards his left ear and whispered into it.

"How  _dare_  you." Ness voice was deep and serious. Claus whimpered.

Ness continued. "You thought I was joking... You're sadly mistaken." By now, his voice turned into something more malevolent. "Want me to show you how mistaken you were?"

Claus' mind said no, but his body said yes. So he ended up saying nothing.

"I'll take that as a yes..." Ness smirked. Then he neared his mouth to the other's ear, and bit into it.

Claus moaned in painful pleasure. He absolutely  _hated_  the fact that he was enjoying it.

Liking the reaction Claus gave, Ness moved from his ear, and to his neck, where he trailed his tongue down it until it reached the collar of his shirt. That's where he stopped, and used a hand to slide up Claus' shirt teasingly.

The boy beneath him shuddered. He could feel Ness' warm hands sliding up his torso, up to his chest, and-

_RINNNNG! RINNNNNGG!_

The school bells sounded. It was now time for first period.

The two boys on the field paused.

And seeing as to how Ness was distracted, Claus pushed him off uneasily. Then he got up and ran, brushing off the grass that got onto his back on the way.


	3. Hard to Handle

Claus stumbled on his way to his first period. He couldn't believe it, but he had to.

_That bell saved his life_.

Because he had to admit it, if the bell never rang, then... He wouldn't have known how far he'd let Ness have his way with him. Claus was frustrated. He didn't even try to fight back! What's up with that? Could it be that Ness was morphing Claus into one of  _them_? The feeling made Claus shudder of disgust.

_No, never!_  Claus thought.  _I'll never be gay like Ness! I like… girls!_

Oh, and, there was something else about Claus. He was a bit homophobic. Although, he doesn't care about gays being around him. He doesn't even mind a few gay friends now and then. He remembered the last time Lucas came out as bi to him, but he happily accepted it with loving arms. Yes, he doesn't mind gays at all. The only time when he'll lose it is if one comes onto  _him_.

Claus ran into his first period English class, startling the many students already inside. He stomped towards his desk that he picked near the back of the classroom. When he sat down, he uncontrollably yelled out something everyone could hear.

"WHY ME?! WHY IS A GAY COMING ONTO  _ME_?!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Everyone inside the class stared confusingly at the orange haired boy, then started laughing so loud. Even his teacher, Mrs. Johnson, sputtered a bit and tried holding back her laugh. They were nearly hysterical.

"Hahahaahaa! Good one, Claus!" a boy named Alex said, getting up from his chair and patted Claus on the back. Alex was one of his friends.

"Eheheh... Yeah..." Claus laughed nervously, pretending that he had meant to do that. And luckily, the class bought it. That's one of the advantages of Claus being a natural class clown.

A while after, the teacher figured it was time to start the class. "Okay everyone! Settle down, settle down. Take your seats and do the warm up that's shown on the smartboard."

The students groaned, and did as told. Claus did it too, and took out his pencil and binder from his backpack. And... that's basically it.

His periods literally raced by like light. Work, work, and work. And to his teachers' surprise, he did it all without saying anything, or joking around. The teachers found it quite odd of Claus, but accepted it because it actually is less stress for them because they didn't have to deal with Claus' purposely stupid questions that would sidetrack the class by making them laugh. He couldn't help but be quiet though. He spent nearly all of his morning classes thinking about Ness and what he could do about him. What  _can_  he do about him? That puzzled Claus and stumped him over and over again.

It wasn't until his lunch period that he snapped out of his thoughts. Because there, he had to meet up with his friends Jeff and Lucas. And it was nearly an adventure to find them. It's because Jeff always picks a different table  _each_  time. But Claus knew why.

" _I don't always want to sit at the same table," said Jeff._

" _Why? It's so fucking hard finding you guys!" Claus replied._

" _Because the position of the table is what counts! I don't want to be near those loud people, or too close to those quiet people! I want it to be just right. And I know you do too."_

Claus remembered what Jeff said. He groaned loudly. He  _would_  sit with other friends, but Jeff and Lucas happened to be closer to him. So he preferred it.

He scoured the overcrowded cafeteria, looking for those two. Occasionally, he was greeted by his other friends, that said "Hi" to him while he was walking past. Soon enough, after a good minute or two, he found the friends he was looking for. It surprised him. That was the fastest he's ever found them. He quickly dashed to that one table.

"Heeeeeyylooooo Claus!" Lucas greeted cheerfully. Jeff waved at him.

"'Sup you guys?" Claus kept his cool. He smiled.

"Nothing much just waiting for you so we can get our lunch." Jeff fixed his glasses momentarily.

"Well, I'm here, wanna go get some now?"

"Nah, not yet."

"Why?"

Lucas pops into the conversation. "We're waiting for our new friend, Ninten!"

"Ninten?" Claus says confusingly. "What the hell is a 'Ninten-"

"Heeeey!" a voice booms over. Claus could hear small footsteps arriving right behind him. As from instinct, he turned around before that voice could get any closer. His eyes widened when he saw the figure.

"I'm the Ninten you guys are talking abo-"

"AAAAHHHHH!" Claus shrieked. "NESS?!"

"Um... no, I'm Nint-"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Claus ran around the table to make space from Ninten. "I don't know what gave you the balls to confront me in front of my friends, but I'll have you know that you will never have your way with me!"

Ninten blushed confusedly. "Um, what?"

"Calm down Claus!" Jeff rose from his seat. "IT'S NOT NESS!"

Claus stared daggers at Ninten, until he heard Jeff. "Wait... what?"

"It. Is. Ninten... Not. Ness. Do. You. Com-pre-hend?" Jeff spoke slowly.

"He... isn't?" Claus looked back at Ninten. Then he took a moment to examine him more clearly. The boy wore different clothes than Ness today. He wore a red, white, and blue striped shirt, a red scarf, and a red and blue hat. Although, the hat was turned to his  _left,_  opposite of how Ness turns his. Claus flushed from the big mistake he has made. There were so many things that could differ himself from Ness. Why didn't he take more time to look at him when they first encountered each other?

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to- er... It was my bad!" Claus laughed nervously. Ninten raised an eyebrow, then took his seat. He smiled and giggled a bit at Claus' mistake.

"Hehe, it's okay! Ness is one of my friends, and I've been confused for him many times, so it's no biggie!" he forgave the other. Claus felt as if a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

"Yeah well... now that  _that's_  solved, what was up with that, huh Claus?" Lucas asked.

The weight returned to Claus' shoulder. "W-What was what?"

"Remember the stuff you said about Ness when you were overreacting?" reminded Lucas. The two other boys nodded.

"That was uh, er..." Claus thought quick. "I'm sorry, you have exceeded the amount of questions you may ask me for today. Please come back tomorrow. Thank you," he purposely sounded like a robot. The other three then broke out into laughter. Immediately, the rest of the boys let that little question pass. Although, Lucas was still suspicious, even more than he was this morning.

Ninten tried his best to stop laughing. "Hahaha! Oh Claus! You're a funny guy!"

"Hehe, I get that a lot." Claus rubbed the back of his head. " _Now_  do you guys wanna get lunch? I'm starving!" he lied. After that little crash with Ninten, his appetite has literally been thrown out the window.

Everyone agreed and got their lunch, then sat back down. Small chits and chatters were made, about school, girls, and stupid things that would come across a free thinking group of boys. This brought comfort to Claus. Something that was hard to get throughout the course of events that have occurred. The boy sighed of relief and smiled warmly at his other friends. Although, he felt a little sting in the pit of his stomach.

He used to remember the good times with Ness like this. They'd tell jokes, laugh, come to each other when they need help. In other words, when no was there for them, they had each other. Claus thought deeply over this.

" _You're so dense... I love you, Claus!"_

Claus' heart thumped heavily in his chest. A blush rose up to his cheeks. He didn't know how to feel about what Ness said. He's mad, but not so mad about it now that he knew Ness wasn't just screwing around with him. He's not happy either. Everyone always needed that one friend they could believe in, that one friend you'd never get tired of, or would let go of that easily. And that person to Claus happened to be Ness. He just doesn't know what to do now. He couldn't return those feelings to Ness...

_Can I try?_

That thought flickered through Claus' head like light. But the boy easily caught it like it was nothing. He clenched his fingers.

_No, NO I CAN'T! EW! With another dude...?!_

Now that Claus thinks about it; there really wouldn't be a problem if Ness was a girl.

Cutting off his train of thoughts, the bell rang for the rest of the class periods to go. Claus and his friends scooted out of their seats, threw away their lunch trays, and said their farewells.

"Bye, you guys!" Ninten yelled, leaving with Jeff.

"See ya!" added Lucas, going on his own way.

"Bye..." Claus said, drained out. He dragged his feet across the school floor. He twisted and turned around groups of other students who were chatting and having fun before 6th period started. Although, as he progressed, he didn't feel as bad as he did while he was thinking just awhile ago. Soon, he was at his 6th period Geometry class.

As he entered, he automatically remembered where he sat, and who he sat  _with_. He looked over near the middle of the room, where two seats were next to each other. One was empty, and the other one was occupied by Ness, who looked over at a poker faced Claus.

_Fuck you, fate._ Claus cursed in his mind. However, no one could blame him. He never would've guessed that sitting next to his best friend would soon bite him back in the ass again.

He took in a sharp breath and let it out. Without making eye contact at all, he sat down abruptly at his seat, and let his backpack fall to the ground next to it.

The tardy bell rang, and now it was time to start class.

"Okay everyone! Take out last night's homework. We're going over them," demanded a voice from the stocky male teacher, Mr. Goldstein. Everyone groaned and mumbled while taking it out.

For once, Claus followed orders right on cue and whipped out his binder from his backpack. From there, he opened it up and took out a blank worksheet he was supposed to do. His teacher never checked for homework, so he could just not do it and copy the answers the next day.

Looking from Claus to his blank sheet of paper, Ness chuckled. "Really, Claus?" He had out his homework, already filled and probably contains accurate answers.

"Yes, really!" Claus looked over at Ness, and chuckled along too. But midway, he noticed he was talking to Ness, so he shut up and looked back to his desk disappointingly. Claus was still impacted by his friend, but after all they've been through, it's now an instinct and impulse to laugh together. He couldn't help but reply back naturally; though it was a bit awkward this time.

Ness noticed this. He looked from Claus, then somewhere else as he slouched in his seat. He sighs. "Claus... it's not like anything's changed."

The orange haired one winced. He had a hard time trying to find the right words, but he did. "Things  _did_  change! You told me you... l-loved me and—how can nothing change?!" He tried keeping his voice down.

"Because..." Ness looked over at Claus and locked eyes with him. "You love me too, you've always did."

A blush rose to Claus' cheeks. He felt attacked. "Wait, WHAT?! WHERE THE- HOW-  _WHAT_? NO I DON'T, YOU DUMBASS!"

"CLAUS!" the teacher yelled. Claus jerked his head in attention. "Quiet down! If you want to get credit for your  _blank_  homework worksheet, then you better pay attention," he snapped, earning 'ooh's from the class. That really got Claus' blood boiling, but not as much as Ness'.

Ness scoffed and rolled his eyes at the teacher. "Well, his worksheet isn't as blank as your sex life," he retorts. The raven-haired boy bullshitted the comeback even though he knew nothing about his geometry teacher's sex activities. Regardless, that  _really_  got the class going, which was what the boy was aiming for.

Angry, the teacher yelled, "NESS! CLAUS! Different seats,  _NOW_." The male pointed at one seat for Claus to sit, and at another for Ness to sit, both located on opposite sides of the room. The two boys groaned out loud and went off, taking their backpacks and things with them.

At this point on, Ness thought things would've been better off if he had kept his mouth shut. However, he couldn't help but tell off anyone who mocks Claus like that and make him look stupid. Ness knows Claus isn't stupid; he's way more than that.

Continuing on, the class quieted and resumed their lesson.

It was only a few minutes later when a girl sitting behind Ness, poked the back of his shoulder.

Surprised and at the same time, curious, Ness turned around and looked at the girl. The girl held out a folded note.

"For you." The girl discreetly slid the note onto Ness' desk. The boy thanked her quietly.

Confused, the hatted one picked up the note and read it.

_Lol. That was awesome Ness! Worth the seat change! Thanks.  
-Claus_

With that, Ness looked across the room, over to Claus. Right when he did, the orange haired one was already staring. He had a small smile plastered on his face, which made Ness form one of his own. The two laughed quietly to themselves.

After class, Ness suspected the two to have made up and forget the whole thing that happened in the morning and the day before that. However, by the time the two were released from their last class for the day (they had different classes) Ness didn't see Claus at all; they would usually talk a little bit before Claus would have to take the school bus with Lucas. Claus would be the one to wait for the raven-haired boy, but this time, he walked right past their meeting point and got on the bus early. The orange haired boy didn't want to see Ness.

Claus felt a little bad because he knew that Ness would wait for him. Regardless, he went home anyway.

Even though their interaction in Geometry class felt natural and like nothing has changed, Claus felt pressured by Ness with his assumptions.

' _You love me, too.'_ Claus repeated what Ness blatantly said to his face; which brought a subtle frown to his face.

_Maybe not in the way you want me to, Ness…_  The orange haired twin shook his head disappointingly. He felt like crying a little bit, but he didn't let himself just in case the kids on the bus would notice; or worse, that his brother would see.

So when all the kids that needed to take the school bus were all aboard, Lucas and Claus took it home.

_Another day over with. Hopefully this year goes by fast so I can get out of this damn place_ , thought Claus.

However, it was only September, a month since they've started their new high school year. It was going to be long and Claus knew it, too.


	4. Best Friends

"Kids... Kids! May I have your attention please!" a joyous female 1st grade teacher yelled. "We have a new student, well, two new students joining us today!"

All the kids put their attention on the newcomers as they stopped in the middle of their morning playtime.

"Thank you! Now, everyone..." The teacher pushed two little boys to the front of the colorful classroom. "Meet Lucas and Claus!" She gestured toward Lucas. "They're twin brothers, meaning that they look exactly the same. The one with yellow hair is Lucas." She gestured toward Claus next. "And the one with orange hair is Claus! Say, 'Hello!'"

"Hewo~!" The class greeted in their developing English. The teacher smiled at everyone's cuteness, and then pointed out where Lucas and Claus should sit. She seated them in table groups lacking an even amount of kids.

"Lucas, you go there," the teacher guides and points Lucas to the back table. "And Claus, you go there." She points out a closer table to the right. Lucas quickly went on his own way, shy and timid, and greeted the kids in his group and took his seat. Claus did so too, and sat with his group.

Claus looked over at his group, uninterested and lacking energy. It was 1st grade, and he was only 6 years old. Moving from Tazmily to Onett was something undesired by Claus. He missed everything back in his old town. His childhood friend, Fuel, whom he'd take along with him, and Lucas, to go out and play in the safe part of the forests.

When Claus looked over at the kids, the kids looked back with a blazing interest in him. They smiled at him, and introduced themselves.

"My name is Daisy."

"I'm Jackie!"

"Name is Alex!"

Claus faked a smile at their introductions, until he noticed one of the group members didn't say anything. He looked at a boy with black, messy hair. He was really quiet, and stuck in his own world, coloring a picture of a giraffe. His head was bent down, clearly focused on anything that was the giraffe picture. Liking his atmosphere, Claus took a seat next to him.

The boy with the messy hair finally lifted up his head to see who just sat next to him. His violet eyes met with Claus' emerald ones. He gave him a calm, bright, welcoming smile. One that had the words, 'Nice to meet you,' packed into it. After giving him that small gesture, the boy just went back to coloring. That is, coloring in such a way that the interest in Claus was piqued.

Claus just blankly stared at him, then switched his gaze to his section of the table, one that was empty of activity. When he thought all socializing was done with, he sighed, and finally let his shoulders slump, and his lips bend down into a hopeless frown. He wondered how Lucas felt about the whole thing.

He looked over to the table Lucas was at, and saw him playing with a blond boy with glasses on. He had a big smile on his face, but Claus could tell that smile wasn't all complete happiness. He knew he missed home, too.

...I wanna go home…

"...Hey?" The raven-haired boy next to him poked Claus. "What's wrung?" The heavy annoying English accent was the first thing the young twin noticed, but he brushed it off quickly.

Claus was startled for a second, then looked at him. "...It's nothing."

"Nuthing?" the boy questioned. "Hwhy are yew sad?"

"I'm not sad!" Claus insisted. He didn't look at the boy next to him anymore. His stubborn nature got the best of him.

The raven-haired boy looked a bit offended, but got over it quickly. He stopped talking to him, and went back to coloring his picture. "..." He couldn't help but look at Claus again. He stopped in the middle of his coloring, and pushed his coloring book in front of Claus.

"Waunt to color with mey?" he asked, flipping to a whole new animal: a fox with a background.

"..I hate coloring." Claus replied back, a little rudely.

"Have yew ever troid et?" asked the boy.

"No…" Claus trailed off. He looked as if he's been caught red-handed.

The boy replied, "Then yew shud troi et."

"Okay, okay." Claus gave in, almost up to *here* with the accent pouring into his ears. He picked up an orange colored pencil, while the other boy picked up a blue one. At that moment, the other started off coloring first. He colored the fox's head blue.

"No, stop!" Claus took a hold of his hand to stop him. "A fox is supposed to be orange!"

The boy looked at Claus surprisingly, then smiled. Then he asked him, "Hwhy?"

"Well.. because… because…" Claus didn't know what to say. The boy chuckled and continued on.

"Don't yew think… anything can be any colour?" he asked creatively. "Instod of colouring things the way thar suppused to be coloured, hwhy not color tham the color they mean?"

"What do you mean..?" Claus was utterly confused by the boy's advanced use of words; sounded horrible, but advanced. He could tell that the boy was way smarter than his current age. By that, the boy broke everything down for him.

"This orenge fox remoinded me of your hair!" he said cheerfully. But then his voice went down into a sad tone. "But... yew lewked bleu todai." He gave Claus a sad and empathetic look.

Claus' eyes finally widened from understanding. He finally got what the boy said.

"Saudness spreads a lot, yew know." the boy mentioned, a bit down.

Thoughts flashed through Claus' mind. From that, Claus felt kind of bad for him.

"...Sorry…" Claus apologized, which surprised himself. Claus wasn't always the one for apologies, he'd always try to get the other person to regret it first and apologize, even if it was his fault.

"That's foine!" the boy replied. "Yew didn't ned to apologoize! What wud be best is if yew chin up." He smiled, and then gave Claus a big thumbs up.

From that, Claus finally smiled the first genuine smile he had in Onett. He felt somewhat motivated by the boy, and his accent just made everything he said, funnier overall.

"That's much moar bettah! Heheh!"

Afterwards, the teacher caught the attention of all the children.

"Everyone! Time for morning recess! Clean up all your playthings, and go ahead out."

The whole class cheered as they started rapidly cleaning up. The boy put all the crayons into a box it came with, and slid it to the middle of the table. He closed his coloring book and put it into his Mr. Saturn themed backpack. The boy picked up his hat that was lying on the table in front of him, and settled it onto his head, turning the bill to his right. He was just about to run out the door, before Claus asked something.

"W-Wait!" he called. He ran to catch up with him. When he did, he latched onto his arm and kept a hold on him. "I forgot! What's your name?" he paused, "My name is Claus!"

He chuckled. "I already know that, selly! And the neme's Ness." For a moment, he winked at Claus as a little introduction. From that, Claus' cheeks tinted pink just a bit. He smiled back.

Then, without permission, Ness unlatched Claus from his arm and clung onto his hand instead. With a burst of energy, he ran out the classroom, through the sleek halls, and out into the autumn path. A rush of wind blew past their hair and whipped it pleasingly against their faces.

He was greeted to the outside of the school, someplace so new to him, so… nostalgic for some reason. His eyes blinked slowly, he was still for just a moment. Nothing could compare to how beautiful he thought it was. The trees were completely stripped of their leaves, which were scattered among the play field; and just about everything else blended into the colors of a caramel orange, mellow yellow, and a light green. However, However, his trails of nostalgia ended when he heard Ness' voice.

"Claws!" Ness stopped in the middle of running, which stopped the other boy, too. "Do yew wunt me to give yew a tewr?" he asked.

"What's a 'tewr'?" Claus responded, childishly.

"..." Ness froze, then scratched his head. His childlike brain only memorized certain sentences from movies he would watch, but not know the meaning to. "...I dunno... But I'll give yew one."

"Okay!" Claus agreed without much thought. They both laughed.

Then Ness ran off, calling, "C'mon, Claws!"

Claus brightened, and bounded after him.

They stopped when they arrived at the playground, to which Ness pointed at exaggeratingly and said, "Thaut's the playground." A few kids that were playing on it spotted Ness and waved at him as well as Claus, all saying different kinds of greetings like, 'Hiiii,' or 'Hewo,' or 'Wassewp.' Ness grinned and waved back, Claus just stood there a bit uncomfortable with the slight attention.

Afterwards, Ness grabbed at Claus' head and turned it a complete 180 degrees.

"That's a saund box," he says matter of factly. "Dun eat the saund, saund is bad." Ness shook his head, while also gesturing a stomach ache.

Claus giggled a bit and let the raven-haired boy lead him around to another place.

"I know what that is!" Claus exclaimed, surprising the other boy.

"What is it?" asked Ness.

"It's a swens set." Claus crossed his arms and wore a smug smile.

"Ya." Ness nodded. "A sweng set." He couldn't help but laugh to himself, and even though he did, Claus still didn't notice his mistake and still believed the playground object to be his beloved 'swens set.' What they both didn't know is that they had actually pronounced 'swing set' completely wrong.

Beyond that point, their tour had been complete with Ness not wanting to explain any other object because there were a lot of obstacles on the playground to identify. He looked around himself, to see all the kids running and playing around them. They weren't doing anything, and there was a silence between them.

"Now whut?" Claus asked, having drawled out the last word slightly.

Ness shrugged innocently, until another smile grew onto his face again at an idea that arose on top of his head. While Claus was turned around, he snuck behind him… ever so slowly…

"...TAG!" Ness poked Claus on the back, who eagerly swished his head around to find his hatted friend already dashing away. Adrenaline built in both of their bodies, as Claus picked up his feet and crunched across the fallen leaves.

"Cheater!" Claus called out playfully. That made Ness turn his head around to stick his tongue out at him, and proceed to run even faster. Before he knew it, he was outrunning Claus, who was trying to keep up with his pace. He didn't realize it, until he heard Claus panting behind him.

"Too fast!" Claus yelled, stopping in his tracks. They've encircled around the whole playground already, and all that seemed to have happened was that gradually, the space between them only increased. Ness heard, and spun around on his heels to see that his orange haired friend stopped. Claus breathed in and out, head hung over, and his arms clutching at his shorts. Ness ran back and lowered his head to look into Claus' face.

"Are yew okay?" Ness asked, a little upset. He was the fastest kid in the class, and oftentimes kids who play tag with him never got him, and would give up entirely and tag out another kid.

"Yes…" Claus continued to breathe in and out, until a smirk appeared on his face.

"TAG! Hahaha!" Caught completely off guard, he tagged Ness from the back and got a running start from the hatted boy's confusion. Ness' joy came back to him once again, and chased after Claus, who wasn't as fast as him, but had more agility. Unlike Ness, Claus ran in between obstacles, dodging and sliding under things to divert the hatted boy's trail off of him. Claus wasn't smart enough to figure out a 'swens set' is a 'swing set,' but he was smart enough to know that his raven-haired friend would catch up if he ran in a straight path.

Since Ness had not caught up yet, Claus decided to run away from the playground to a grove of trees a bit far off from the other children. The forest was beautiful and calm. However, Claus didn't have enough time to take it in, considering he was still running away and was impulsively laughing while doing so. Ness was laughing too, but there was no reason. They were just kids having fun.

When Claus came to a thick tree, he hid behind it with Ness on the opposite side. Every time Ness went to run around the tree, Claus did the same, leaving Ness unable to tag him. It came to the point that they were just making the opposite moves, Claus inevitably teasing his friend. This was certainly the first time Ness wasn't able to tag someone, and as a little kid, he admired it just a bit.

"You can't tag me~" Claus sang.

"I well!" Ness said with determination. He had a challenging smirk on his face.

"Slowpoke!" Claus only continued mocking him.

However, in a moment's notice, the orange haired boy messed up his footing and found himself needing to run from that tree or else Ness would get him. However, to his misfortune, the hatted one was able to get to him before he could. Claus was slippery, so Ness ended up having to pounce on the little fox-like boy.

"TAG!" Ness shouted with triumph. His body was on top of Claus, who fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"Owie…" Claus turned over, still lying down. Ness grew alarmed and got off of his friend.

Now Claus sat up, and Ness could see the damage he accidentally inflicted on his friend. The fall he took ended up scraping his cheek, and wrist. It bled more than Claus was used to, causing the orange haired one to grow red in the eyes and tear up.

"I'm sorrey!" Ness apologized, sitting on the ground opposite of him. He brought a helping hand to him, but was unsure how to comfort him. He stopped in his tracks when Claus looked at him, a bit more than mad.

"You hurt me!" he accused, pouting. Small dots of blood remained on his injured parts, which Ness wanted to clean up.

Ness took his baggy shirt and led a hand underneath it to use as a wipe. He got on his knees to Claus, who was currently sitting up. He tapped at the small scraped spots to absorb it into his own striped shirt. Claus tinged at his very touch, and by the time Ness was done cleaning it off, the boy looked at him with silent rage.

Claus furrowed his brows at Ness, who was not used to anyone getting mad at him so easily. Most of the time, the hatted boy never did anything wrong. However, Claus had a short fuse, especially at this age. He wasn't the type to get close to anyone at first sight, but he would enjoy their presence as it lasts, and Ness hurting him this way, even though it was for the sake of their game of tag, made Claus furious.

Ness gingerly asked, "Are yew okay now?" He averted his eyes from Claus nervously.

"No, it stings!" Claus shouted, "It's all your fault!"

"I'm sorry… I'll make it bettah!" Ness promised. He hoped saying that would atone for his doings, and would at least get Claus to wipe off that angry look he had on him. It softened Claus' expression, giving the hatted one more confidence in himself.

"How?" Claus' tone turned from mad to reasonable. He tilted his head.

"My mum says wheneva someone gets hurt, if yew kiss thar boo-boos, they get bettah!" Ness pointed out genuinely. Claus stared at him in wonder, considering as if what he said was magic.

"Really?" the orange haired one's interest was piqued.

"Ya! Let's troi et."

First, Ness carefully grabbed Claus' wounded arm. The orange haired one complied and let him do so. Then, as if he only had one shot at this, Ness planted his lips on the boy's wrist, then took it off. The hand Claus gave to Ness shook, which alarmed the hatted one.

"Did et work?!" Ness asked. Claus' eyes widened.

"I… I think it did!" A huge grin popped out onto Claus' face. "Do it again!"

Ness giggled, then kissed Claus' wrist another time. "Is thaut gud?"

"Yeah!" Claus started his own giggle fest as well. He started to notice that it tickled when Ness would kiss his wrist.

"Et's like you're a princess," Ness commented, sticking out his tongue a little from his own silly reference.

"Wha- NO!" Claus pouted, a blush growing on his cheeks as he took his hand from Ness. "I'm not a girl!"

"I'm just joking wif yew!" Ness let out a wide grin. "Now et's time to kiss your cheeks! Does it hurt?"

"Mhmm.." Claus hovered his hand over it in pain, but then decided to puff it out for Ness to heal. The hatted one grinned, and went along with the gesture. Happily, he pecked Claus carefully on his cheek, then looked at the boy.

"Is thaut part bettah now, tew?" Ness' face was really close to Claus', and their eyes stuck to each other with gleaming innocence. The blush on Claus' face only grew bigger, but nonetheless, he smiled back.

Claus nodded enthusiastically at the boy, and the anger he felt towards him disappeared. He thought he met a good person on his first day of 1st grade. A friend. One that came to his rescue with healing kisses.

Claus' naiveness spiked, and his heart opened out to him. He wanted to stay with this boy and try to be friends with him. Forget his stubbornness, forget his short fuse.. he wants to be friends with him. He was left staring at the hatted boy's violet eyes, ones that never left his, and he knew, too, that Ness wanted to be a friend to him as well.

RING RING RING!

The female first grade teacher rung a bell, signaling the end of morning recess. The two got up, and made a run back to form a line with the rest of the kids. However, when he was in line, the teacher still rung the bell even when all the students were there already.

RING RING RING!

"What…" Claus scratched his head, then looked at Ness, hoping to see if he was weirded out by why the teacher was still ringing the bell so intensely.

But when he looked at Ness, the raven-haired boy was already staring back at him with tears in his eyes that fell out like a smooth river.

* * *

A sudden surge burst through Claus' body, making him wake from his dream. He abruptly jerked his body upwards from underneath his thick blanket.

He brought a hand to his forehead and felt slight moisture upon his skin. His breaths were short and sharp from suddenly waking up.

The boy squinted his eyes and rubbed them to get the sleep out. He didn't know what woke him up. It was the middle of the night and he woke up to nothing. Nothing but the fake ringing in his dream. But he didn't care. He was more concerned with the contents of his dream.

"What. the. fuck," is what he says. Again, he wasn't in a good mood. He felt disgusted.

 _Two fucking weeks, TWO_ , he thought. He's been avoiding Ness since then, and the dream he had made him feel guilty and sad. That is, until he remembered the kisses he let Ness naively plant on both his wrist and cheek when they were kids. He sat up on his bed and rubbed his face.

"Ew ew ew ew ew," he went on and on and went as far as to exit his room and go to the nearest bathroom. There, he took out a bottle of alcohol and dipped a cotton ball in it. He briskly rubbed the ball on his face repeatedly, the same part Ness kissed when they were little. He sighed. He wished the alcohol could erase the past like it was currently removing the pathogens off right now.

 _Kisses don't heal shit,_ he thought angrily, _Just how stupid were we when we were little? God, his accent was really bad back then, too!_

Then all of a sudden, a collection of past memories came to Claus; all the idiotic times they've shared since that day, following into middle school as well. Accidentally lighting a trash can on fire, playing pranks on their English teacher in 6th grade, adventuring out into the forest in search of bears—the list went on. He even remembered Ness' big quest to rid of his English accent once and for all, and how he bought children's books and read it to Claus out loud for practice, repeatedly asking, "Is et gettin' bettah? Is et?!" to which Claus would reply, "Not at all."

However, when it came down to it, Claus' heart yearned for him and Ness' friendship to come back, but he doesn't think it's possible. He is considering a solution to his problem, and that is to just… break it off with Ness. No more talking, having fun, or sharing memories with. He'd have to find someone else for that; someone who isn't Ness.

By then the orange haired boy made it back to his room and buried his body underneath his blanket. He cursed himself, and slowly shut his eyes into a forceful slumber.

Ping!

God dammit. Just when Claus was about to fall asleep, too, he had to start back from square one again and slip off his blanket. He checked out his iPhone, only to find that Ness messaged him multiple times throughout the night.

_"I can't fall asleep."_

Claus cringed.

_"I wish you'd just stop avoiding me, damn it. I get it already."_

His heart dropped, and even though he was awake to receive the messages as they were sent, he didn't want to reply. He didn't even know what to say. Even though that was so, he really couldn't bring himself to ignore him. Staring into the bright screen, he slid his finger across the touch screen and typed out his reply.

_"i just dont want to see you anymore."_

Almost instantly, he could see that Ness was already typing out a response.

_"Are you serious? You know that's not true."_

Claus felt somewhat confused and upset. He missed Ness a little bit but he was still unforgiving about what he did to him. The mental wounds Ness has inflicted upon him were still fresh.

 _"it is. Don't you dare come near me."_  He typed out his anger-filled response.

_"Claus. Please don't do this. I'm sorry for being so pushy. It won't happen again."_

Claus didn't reply, he felt stuck. Can he really trust Ness at this point at all? His unwillingness to reply overtook him and he decided not to say another word. This caused Ness to send another rapid message.

_"Goodnight, then."_

That message only made him feel lonelier, now. Frustrated, he locked his phone up and slammed it on his nearby desk. He forced his eyes shut and laid under his blanket searching for comfort, but to no success. Instead, he curled up on his side in defeat, feeling like there was a hole through his chest.


	5. Bro-Ships

He stared blankly at sheets of white that glazed over his eyes. His lunch, though delicious for school food, never made it to his mouth and fell back onto the tray, only making him pick it up again for another attempt. His jello cubes would soon turn into smaller chunks from repeatedly spooning it then dropping it again. About a month after Ness texted Claus, he's been in sneak mode. He strengthened his defenses to keep his raven-haired friend away, but as he was doing so, he still remained happy himself. He didn't know what avoiding would result in, but he did it anyway.

"And then he was like, 'I'm way smarter than you,' and I replied, 'Well bitch I don't see  _you_  with a flying car,'" Jeff was in the middle of his chat with Lucas and Ninten. The two other boys laughed at that.

"Did you really say that?" Lucas asked, amused.

"Well no." Jeff momentarily hung his head down, shook it, then brought it up again. "Instead, I just rubbed my progress report in his face and danced out of the classroom when the bell rang," he said matter of factly, still earning laughs from the other two.

"Wish I was there to see that, haha!" Ninten commented. He was currently picking at his food, and placing it gingerly in his mouth. A blush worn across his face, which formerly wasn't there, but the other boys failed to notice it. Claus was currently staring him down, as if he wanted to kill the scarfed boy. His stare instilled fear in Ninten to the point where he  _had_ to say something about it.

Ninten cleared his throat, catching the table's attention. "Um, Lucas… your bro is very uh… focused."

Lucas' eyesight was then directed to his twin brother's, and from there he also caught the intensity of his stare directed at Ninten. He nudged his brother, knocking him out of his trance.

"Claus, stop," Lucas demanded lightly. "Why are you staring at him anyways?"

"I don't know," Claus admitted, looking down at his jello chunks that never made it to his mouth. Then he switched his eyes back to Ninten and talked to him directly. Being his frank self, he said, "Alright, I don't know you well, and I never even had a normal conversation with you. But I just feel like  _killing_ you." His hands gestured towards Ninten. He looked  _too_ much like Ness that it started to become unbearable having him at the lunch table everyday.

The scarfed boy shrieked a little, small sweat drops inching down the side of his head. He smiled nervously, hoping that was just a cruel joke.

"Claus, what the heck?" Jeff intervened with a raised brow.

"Like I said, I don't  _know_." Claus made his hands into fists and stared down at them.

"It's about Ness, isn't it?" Lucas hit it right on the spot, although he's known since Claus dropped down a grade in mental stability. "It's been a while, why won't you just tell me what's wrong?"

Claus sighed. He had no one to go to, or rather, wouldn't let himself release his bottle of frustrated emotions to anyone. He would go to Lucas or even Jeff for help or advice on anything, but could he really tell them about  _this_? They didn't know Ness as well as Claus did, even if he's been his friend since elementary and would often visit his home. This made Claus tempted to tell the two, regardless if Ninten was there because he didn't really care if he heard or not.

"Could I really trust you guys?" Claus asked,  _just_  to make sure.

"Yes, Claus!" Lucas and Jeff said simultaneously. They looked at each other weirdly, then back to the orange haired damsel in distress.

Someday, Claus would have to tell somebody because he didn't know what to do for himself. Maybe Lucas and Jeff had good advice. Just  _maybe_.

"I...I.." Claus bit at his bottom lip, then let go entirely. "Alright, fuck it, I don't care anymore. Ness confessed to me last month and I don't know what to do with him, myself, or our friendship."

The two boys', along with Ninten's, jaw dropped. Their expressions accurately said, 'Well holy shit I did  _not_  see that coming.'

At the silence, Claus said, "Yep." He fiddled his fingers together.

He was expecting a response first from either Lucas or Jeff, but surprisingly, he got one from Ninten first.

"Well, I don't know what to say, but just bite at the pillows and clench your buttcheeks.  _Hard,_ " he advised. This earned uncontrollable laughter from the boys, and a massive blush from Claus.

"You know what? I really  _will_  kill you." Claus shot a dark glare at the scarfed boy, who was still laughing.

"Chill out, Claus," Jeff came in, "I think what he's trying to say is that you're probably taking it too seriously. Ness is your friend- if you don't want him on you, he'll respect that and go back to your guys' normal friendship."

"But he already came onto me!" Claus exclaimed, " _Twice_." He held up two fingers to emphasize.

"Um. Woah." Lucas looked wide eyed still.

"Then follow Ninten's advice." Jeff sputtered. They continued to laugh again.

Claus sighed. "You guys really  _are_  no help. Dammit."

"We've already told you to just talk it out with him," Jeff concluded.

However, Claus didn't want to listen. He felt as if the times Ness confessed to him, that he was sure Ness wouldn't change his mind. Claus could act as friendly as he could, but he was so sure his heart wasn't going to change. However, he didn't tell that to his friends, and just stayed silent for the rest of the lunch period.

Next thing they knew, the bell signalling the end of the lunch period, sounded. Ninten and Jeff said their goodbyes, but Lucas remained. He stayed there and threw his lunch tray away with Claus, then gave his brother a hug.

"I'm sorry if they were rude about it," Lucas apologized.

"It's fine," Claus replied, but in actuality, if Lucas didn't say that one sentence to cover for them, Claus would've been in more of an upset mood for the rest of the day. He was happy his brother was always so kind and gentle.

"I'll see you on the bus after school, okay?" Lucas waved.

"Yeah!" Claus did the same thing back.

Then they both went off to their 6th periods. Well, one of them did.

Claus stopped short at the entrance to his geometry class. He looked at the door, and wondered if he should  _really_  go inside it. Recently, Ness wouldn't stop staring at him, and it annoys him to no end. Plus, he didn't do his homework. He never did his homework for this damn class.

He blew out the air from his lungs with his hands holding tightly onto the straps of his backpack, and looked at the door one more time. Without any further hesitation, he twirled on his heels and literally ditched the class. Before the tardy bell rang, he made it out of the school building and onto the soccer field, where bleachers were laid on the side, far from any school staff from seeing. He relaxed and put his backpack down, laid down on the bleachers, and looked to the sky.

It was beautiful, big, and blue. The chill of the October air only added to its comfort. Claus wasn't wearing his hoodie quite yet, for the air wasn't that cold to shiver about. So far, he wasn't sure about anything anymore. He always fell back in classes, even the ones he  _does_  attend, and midterms are coming up. He didn't care about middle school grades, but this is high school, now. Where it really  _counts_. He doesn't know why he couldn't focus, and would love to blame Ness. But no, this was his fault.

_Sometimes life is fucking bullshit_. He really did want to be lazy his whole life and not have too much drama in it.

After lying down in the quiet with nothing but his thoughts speaking to him, his eyes slowly closed over time. Before he knew it, he slipped into slumber from the lack of sleep last night.

* * *

Claus' eyes awoken to a faded sky. The bright blue that he previously saw before he fell asleep was replaced with a dim sky filled with parted clouds when he woke up. Claus was relaxed, even happy to see that the sky remained beautiful even when he took his nap. However, he snapped out of his trance when he noticed it was  _dark._  He got up urgently and looked from side to side. He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder at the sight of no student. He slipped his iPhone out of his pocket and checked the clock.

_6:24 p.m._

_No you have got to be fucking kidding me. I slept past the buses?! Even the late buses?!_  He complained in his head as his hands stressfully dug into his hair. He knew he was screwed now. He does not live close to school, which is why him and Lucas always took the school bus. His father was still at work and had the car, and Claus was also out of money to take a public bus home.

While he was panicking, he also noticed that he has received recent texts.

_"Claus, you weren't on the bus today, did you have to stay after?" - Lucas 2:08 p.m._

_"Claus, where are you? You're still not home, did you not take the late bus either?" - Lucas 5:04 p.m._

These texts earned a large sigh from the orange haired boy as he typed slowly on his phone's keyboard.

_"i ditched 6th period and fell asleep on the bleachers. Yea, i know im stupid."_

A text followed immediately after that.

_"Darn it, Claus! Mom's going to be so mad! You better not hurt me if I have to take drastic measures!"_

_"calm down! and what do u mean?"_

He never replied past that, and the boy was left with confusion and curiosity on what his twin brother meant by 'drastic measures.' He took this time to think about how to get home, even though at the moment, it seemed as if there were no more solutions. He bit the bottom of his lip like he usually does when he thinks, or is frustrated. Not knowing what to do, he decided to move from the bleachers and trace around the entire school to get to the front. It didn't help, but it was something.

As he was going, he passed by a few students who still lingered on school grounds, the types that usually lived near the school and loved to hang out with their friends 24/7. The more popular types were the ones that were, well, making out like there was no tomorrow at the school's front tables that were usually deserted, or had a few students around that really couldn't care less. On the rare occasion, there would probably be types like Claus, those who accidentally slept past the buses because he ditches 6th period to avoid a certain  _someone's_ stare. He felt like the stupidest person in the world. He was really annoyed and what spiked it even more was the fact that a group of obnoxious girls were chatting incessantly on a table that wasn't even close to his, and he could still hear them.

At that moment, his ringtone went off, and the boy answered it promptly.

"Hello?"

_"It's me. Lucas told me you were stuck at school and asked me to come get you."_ The low, cool voice of Ness' slid through the phone's speaker.

_You know Lucas, maybe you could've asked JEFF!_ Claus raged as he knew his chain combo of avoiding Ness broke.

"...Thanks..." Claus trailed off. That was all he could figure to say.

_"Um, yeah. I already asked my mom and we're already on our way to come get you. Sit tight."_

_Click!_

And that was the end of it, to Claus' surprise. He didn't think Ness would hang up so abruptly on him. Nonetheless, Claus shrugged it off and only focused on what he would say when the hatted boy would make it here. His heart raced again knowing Ness was coming to get him, but he calmed his nerves with deep breaths.

It'd be easier if he knew Ness wouldn't interrogate him, it'd be easier if he wouldn't have been within 40 feet of him, it'd be  _easier_ if those group of girls would just  _shut up._

Claus' attention was brought back to the table full of girls talking among themselves. He stared from afar, trying not to be obvious. His expression turned bitter.

Their giggles echoed off nonexistent walls; just because there was only Claus and one couple eating their faces off doesn't mean they had to let the whole world know what they were talking about. All it was about were stupid things like drama and boys. It's their first year of high school, calm the estrogen. Claus' head ran through so many negative thoughts.

"He's soooo cute, no kidding!" one blonde girl exclaimed. "He's super smart too, and his hat just makes him look better!"

Claus' ears perked up at the familiar characteristic.

"You mean the one in your 4th period? The one with the scarf?"

"No, the one in second period." She face palmed. Her friends giggled at the thought of him. "I heard he also played baseball in middle school, so dreamy..."

"You should ask him out!"

"I want to..." The smile on her face faded away. "But… he hasn't been around for like, a week now."

The girls 'awwww'd at her decision, and the convo went on from there. Claus heard every single word and scoffed internally.

_Hat, baseball, cute. I wonder who THAT could be..._ Claus sarcastically said to himself. Though, he didn't expect that girl to get his blood boiling. In fact, he felt like he already hated her. He rolled his eyes and continued to keep an eye out for Ness' mom's car.

Although, there was one detail that piqued Claus' worry. She said Ness hasn't been around for a week, now. He didn't think too deeply on it, considering that it might be inaccurate for a girl that was a stranger to Ness. His thoughts lingered, that is, until another girl from the group caught his attention.

Claus did a double take on her, just to make sure she wasn't staring at _him._  It turns out her gaze didn't switch off of the orange haired boy, thus, making him feel less than comfortable. Just to make sure, Claus turned his head to look behind him, pretending he was stretching to see if she was looking at anyone other than him. She wasn't.

_Please stop…_  Her stare had sparked up Claus' rare insecurity. Though Lucas was the shy brother of the two, he couldn't help but think he inherited just a bit of shyness from him.

All she did was keep staring, only stopping to comment on her friends' conversation. Claus looked at her through his peripheral vision. She wore a blue hoodie that scaled all the way down to her knees, which made it look like some sort of weird hoodie skirt thing, to Claus. Her eyes were a dim shade of hot pink, and her hair, too, was short and matched the color. After getting used to her face, Claus' insecurity flew away and was replaced with curiosity.

_Huh that girl…_  Claus thought as he stroked his chin as if he had an imaginary beard.  _She diggin' the CLAUS_. He ended up smiling to himself as her blunt gaze gave him self confidence in his good looks. Afterwards, the girls' conversation went quiet, as the pink haired one talked to them in whispers.

Now, the entire group of girls were passing eyes over Claus, giggling. The giggles that erupted from their mouths were terrifying signals. It was obvious at that point that they were talking about him. Next thing Claus saw were these certain girls nudging at the pink haired girl, as if gesturing to her, 'Go talk to him!  _Go!_ ' However, she didn't move a smidge. Claus sighed of relief. He wouldn't know what the heck he would say, anyways.

With perfect timing, a car, specifically Ness' mom's car, came up the driveway of the school's parking lot and stopped itself near a curb a bit far off from the tables. There, Ness came out of the car and trailed himself across the lot.

When Claus saw him, he instinctively thought,  _Well speak of the devil._  He already saw the group of girls squeal at the hatted boy's temporary arrival.

Ness smiled at the orange haired boy as he waved to him saying 'Hi' without actually vocalizing it. He moved his index finger up, gesturing Claus to get out of the table seat and follow him. The orange haired boy complied, hesitantly and awkwardly. He was confused at how normal Ness was acting, despite everything that has happened between the two of them. Though, he did notice something a little bit off about his raven-haired friend. Ness trudged slowly and his steps looked heavy; and his face was paler than usual.

"Ness!" the blonde haired girl called, shrilly. Her greeting was filled with a little bit of worry. "Where have you been?"

Ness replied weakly, "Home. Dead." He laughed a little, which now revealed to everyone that he had an apparent fever and slight cold. That earned smiles from the group of girls by how friendly Ness was. It turned out to Claus that Ness really did know who that girl was.

However, that's not important. Ness was weak and yet he still bothered to ask his mom to come get Claus. Guilt sank into the twin's bones.

The blonde girl didn't look too happy about that. "Do you know when you'll get back? You're running behind in your classes..."

Ness sighed, forming a saddened smile. "Not at all, but don't worry about it. I'm having one of my friends pick up my assignments for me, anywa-" His sentence was disrupted by a series of ragged coughs. "I think *cough* I should get going now- *coughs*" He waved goodbye to her, and she did, too.

From there, Claus followed behind Ness with a fine space between them. It bothered him by how Ness didn't even say anything to him yet. Though, he didn't know who else to blame but himself.

The two boys settled in the car, Claus in the back, and Ness in back as well, next to him.

"I'm really sorry about having you do this," Claus apologized to Ness' mom.

All she did was wave it off, and happily say, "It's no problem, I understand your family was unable to pick you up," with a motherly smile plastered to her face. That smile was the equivalent to Claus' mom, which made him feel better with the familiarity.

The drive was knowingly long, due to the fact that Ness lived way closer to school than Claus did. The drive was rather quiet, too, other than long lasting coughs that kept erupting from Ness. The raven haired boy looked really messed up by this point; his coughs ruffled his hair, his eyes were desolate and surrounded in dark circles, and his arms, which were wrapped around his body, were trembling despite the warm air in the car. All Claus did was stare, often seeing his friend just sniffle back his minor runny nose.

It wasn't hard to see the depression in Ness because Claus himself has been feeling down, too. He didn't know how long Ness has been sick or been away from school. He was too busy avoiding all the places he usually saw Ness at that he didn't even know he has been gone the entire time. It hurt just a bit that the blonde girl knew about Ness' missing before Claus did.

"Ness, dear, are you alright?" asked his mother.

Ness didn't look up; he was still hugging himself with his head down and hair hanging over his eyes. He nodded weakly, which the mother saw through the rearview mirror.

"...Okay…" she trailed off, keeping her eyes on the road but also wanting to speak more to her son. "Do you still have your medicine? Did you want to pass by the convenience store for anything?"

"Could I… have…" Ness mumbled. "Coffee…?"

"Ness, you know that coffee is bad for your cold, right?" his mom warned. Ever since the first time Ness tried coffee, he literally went through the roof and was hyper on the caffeine. Now, he's been having it in moderation and has gotten used to it. He likes the taste a lot, hot or cold, branded or unbranded. Claus knew this, and his mom soon became used to it over time.

"Mn…" Ness made a short whine at his mom's reply, making the mother even more tempted to get his son the delicious drink he wanted everyday. She didn't say anything, until she brought up the car to a parking space next to a convenience store.

"Just this once, okay? No more until your cold is gone," his mom finalized, falling prey to her son's plea. Before slipping out of the car, she asked, "Claus, would you like anything?"

"No thank you." Claus passed her a small smile. "I think I'll just wait here," the boy replied, receiving a nod from the mother who then shut the car door and went into the store to get Ness' coffee and other medications. It was dark outside now, and the car was left with only a small light that lit up the car dimly. There was nothing but silence and Ness' usual coughs and sniffles.

"...Sorry to make you come pick me up," Claus said, "you didn't have to join in with your mom to come all the way there if you were this sick."

Ness brought his head back up to look at the boy. He had a sort of neutral expression about him. "Haven't seen you in a long time *cough* I t-thought I wouldn't see you ever again at school, so I just skipped. Next *coughs* thing I knew I got sick."

"Don't skip  _school!_  Even I'm not doing that!" Claus complained worriedly.

"There's no *cough* point anyway. And you don't wanna be around me so much that you didn't even notice I was g-gone." Ness started to tear up a bit, but blinked it away. Ness never really cried, he was too happy-go-lucky for that, and reddened eyes would be the closest Claus has seen him to crying. Claus felt guilty from that one sentence.

"Wish you would stop a-avoidin' me… I wish I never told you how I felt…" Ness began more coughing fits after that. Small tears started dropping out his eyes, making Claus want to cheer him up. Ness had missed him like crazy.

" _Ness is your friend- if you don't want him on you, he'll respect that and go back to your guys' normal friendship."_ The words Jeff told Claus came into his mind.

_Dammit Jeff, you better be fucking right or else I will beat you to death with your own calculus binder._  Claus thought as he sighed at Ness.

" _Fine_ , I won't avoid you anymore," Claus said spitefully. Ness fidgeted, his violet eyes wide with hope and tears quickly fading away. Claus' heart pumped at the boy's switch in emotion. "Yeah, you heard me."

Ness was about to ask some questions about it, until Claus covered it for him.

"But only on  _certain_  conditions…" Claus held up a finger to Ness. The raven-haired boy listened attentively, his expression telling the other that he was taking mental notes.

"Don't jump me,  _again._ " The orange haired one blushed and averted his eyes. "And don't act all  _gay_  and stuff... and all lovey dovey. It's weird. It's not normal."

Ness looked as if he's been stabbed by every word in that sentence, but managed to put up a smile nonetheless. He was able to talk to his friend again and have another chance at putting things back together. He wouldn't have to find another friend after all, and that altogether made Ness shoot up from his sickened position.

"Okay! I promise!" Ness said through his ill throat, bringing his friend into a close hug where the raven-haired boy could rub his face into the other's shoulder.

"ACK-!" Claus poked at Ness, who was hugging him. "THIS IS WHAT I MEANT! NO TOUCHY!" He half-heartedly pushed Ness off to no avail; the raven haired boy just kept his arms wrapped around him. A tint of pink grew on Claus' face as the embrace prolonged. Claus didn't necessarily hate it… he actually didn't hate it at all. He had missed Ness himself, and the thought of making him happy again with his presence brought some life into the orange haired boy. Slowly, Claus returned the hug to his friend.

Claus sighed once again. "At this point I'm going to have to make a legit contract modeling your conditions." This earned a laugh from his friend.

At that moment, Ness' mom popped into the car again, saying, "Sorry, I got sidetracked by a talking dog." She turned to the back, about to pass Ness his coffee until he saw the boys in their little hug. "Uh."

Ness snapped off of Claus almost immediately when his mom looked. However, he was a bit too late in doing so. Ness' mom giggled at her son, causing him to do something Claus has never seen Ness do so bluntly.  _Blush._

"You two are  _adorable,_ " she said.

"Shut- shush!" Ness said gently to his mom, taking the convenience store bag out of her hand. "Thanks mom." He was going to say 'shut up' until he realized it was his mother he was talking to. His mom knew, too, and she laughed at how her respectful son covered it.

Right now, both his mom and Claus could already see the paleness in Ness' skin fade away, and his ghostly figure turn back alive. He was sitting up straight and the temperature didn't seem to bother him anymore. Despite the dark circles, the burning violet color returned back to Ness' passionate eyes. Claus couldn't help but smirk his lips at his friend and be happy to see him perked up and energetic again like usual.

As some sort of weight lifted off from Ness' shoulders, some weight was lifted off of Claus', too. The orange haired boy didn't know what it was all about, but he definitely felt better after getting to see and talk to his best friend again.

Ness' mom turned on the engine of the car and got it rolling up again. The AC whooshed its warm air in once again and the boys chilled out in the back. This time, there was no awkward silence, just the boys talking about how their days went. It felt like there wasn't a gap anymore, just how Ness wanted it to revert back to, and how Claus wanted it to turn out to be.

Claus spoke about how many times he ditched his geometry class just because he didn't have Ness' homework to copy, then explained how it was still stupid of him because he knew he still would've been too lazy to even  _copy_  Ness'homework. The raven-haired boy was amused by his talkings. Claus kept going on.

"I've also been missing PE-"

Ness interrupted with a joking remark, "Dude, you've been missing all the classes we share together."

"Well, you were _creepy_ ," Claus shot back. Ness laughed, to which Claus laughed, too.

By then, the car slid next to the curb in front of Claus' house.

"Alright, we're here!" Ness' mom turned around and looked at the two boys to catch their attention.

"Oh!" Claus looked outside to see, apparently losing track of time trying to catch Ness up on different things and joking around with what happened. He quickly opened the car door and slipped out.

Before closing it, Claus said, "Thanks a lot, Ness' mom!" He gave her a thankful smile.

"Anytime." She smiled back. Then Claus turned to Ness.

"See you later, man." Claus held up his hand to his friend, asking for the general handshake they used. Ness complied gladly, putting their hands together, sliding them off each other, then ending it with a fist bump.

"Peace," Ness said his farewell casually.

Afterwards, the orange haired boy closed the car door and ran up to the entrance of his house. Before knocking, he turned back again to give a final wave to those in the car who were leaving. He then proceeded to knock on the door. In a few seconds, running could be heard and Lucas was the one to answer the door.

The blond boy looked at his brother with a grin, then it slowly faded away as he backed up from him.

"You aren't mad that I called Ness to come get you, right…?" Lucas gave Claus a nervous smile. He quickly went to defend his decisions, "I couldn't help it! Jeff said he was too lazy and Ninten was asleep!"

Claus closed the door behind them and locked it. He tilted a brow at Lucas then held his arms up harmlessly. "Calm down, Lucas! It's all good now." Then he greeted his brother with a smile he hasn't seen in a while.

"Wha-" Lucas was genuinely surprised by that. He'd thought that having to resolve to Ness would mean potentially starting another fight between the two, but  _no,_  the exact opposite happened. "You guys  _made up_?" His mouth opened up in awe.

"Yeah. It all turned out to be not as bad." Claus scratched the back of his head, "It also turned out he was absent for 2 weeks straight."

"Really?!" Lucas was wide-eyed. "Darn, I didn't know."

"Well, yeah, that's how it was, then we just talked about it, and now we're friends again!"

"You're not bothered anymore?" Now Lucas was even more surprised at this point since he knew how intolerant his brother was with certain things. He knew that if Claus learned to hate something he's been so attached to previously, he'd send it out of his life without another word and make it look  _easy_.

"Nope. It all actually seems like a joke, now."

"Oooh… It's probably because you guys took a break from each other. Time always does its job," Lucas concluded, nodding thoughtfully.

"I think so, too."

Right now, the two boys were leaning against their soft brown couch, chatting nonchalantly. Lucas was glad to hear the good news, in fact, he's pretty glad he wouldn't need to worry about his brother ditching certain classes anymore. Even more so, Claus was happier too; happy that somehow the uncomfortable feeling around Ness disappeared, happy that time really could dissolve the past, and happy at the thought that Ness, just _maybe_ , didn't love him anymore.


	6. What Seems Good?

The next day was for once, not an eyesore to wake up to. Claus was glad to see an open window that let in the sun’s rays, he was glad to see birds flying outside his window, he was glad to see his alarm clock on his dresser, he was glad to see _anything_. Moreover, he was satisfied with simply being alive. What had even better timing was the fact that today was a relaxing Saturday. He could choose whether or not he wanted to get up from here, or just lay himself back to sleep. Though, he was a bit too hype to just lie back down again.

Claus sat up and stretched his body pleasurably. He ran a quick hand through his hair, untangling it half-heartedly and sorting it the way his cowlick usually goes, which was basically the opposite way Lucas’ hair went. From there, the first thing he did was pull his phone off his charger and unlocked it. A few messages came from Jeff and other school friends, usually about stupid things. He went to go check Jeff’s messages first before the others’. 

_“I would come get you, but I got my dad mad at me today” - Jeff Yesterday 6:37 p.m._

The messages went on.

_“I accidentally burnt his toaster strudel and then he lectured me about world hunger. I don’t wanna ask him for anything else now"_

Claus laughed to himself at the messages, then clicked off his phone again. He looked around his room not knowing what to do today, but for sure, he felt good enough to do anything. He could finish the new PC game he got his parents to buy him, play his actual console games, walk Boney around, message his friends, and maybe even hang out with Ness.

That thought crossed the orange haired boy’s mind twice. He stroked his imaginary beard, wondering if it would be okay to let his friend visit the day after they had just made up. Thoughts ran through Claus’ mind freely.

_Should I grant my friend the right to enter my lair?_ By lair, he meant his house. Claus’ eyes squinted. _I mean he was sick just yesterday, I should probably let him rest up or something..._

Gentle knocks came to Claus’ room door to which he heard his twin brother say, “Hey, wake up! Breakfast is ready!” Then the sound of Lucas’ steps disappeared as he walked back downstairs. That was when Claus decided to hop off his thought train and slide from underneath his blanket. From there, he stretched even more as he was standing, yawned, then exited his room and went over to the bathroom.

He closed and locked the door behind him, proceeding to stare at himself in the mirror next. The bags under his eyes from previous days were gradually healing, which was a pleasing thought to the boy. He usually claims that he doesn’t care about his looks when people ask, but internally he actually cares about his face and also how he comes off to people. The next thing he did was turn on the faucet and run the tips of his fingers underneath the running water, which he used to force his hair to go a certain way it usually did. After getting it settled, he brushed his teeth, washed his face, then left.

His steps down the stairs were light and quick as he made his way down and around the corner to the kitchen. There, he saw his brother munching on an omelet he made himself. He saw another, which Lucas had clearly made for him. Internally, Claus thought, _fuck yeah._

The orange haired twin took his seat next to his brother and immediately noticed their mother wasn’t around. On weekends, Hinawa likes to take a break from always cooking breakfast for her boys on school days. She often goes out to have fun for herself as well.

“This is _good_ ,” Claus spoke, cheeks filled and chomping down on the omelette Lucas made. “Like usual.”

“Thanks.” Lucas grinned back at his brother.

They proceeded to finish their filling breakfast with a side of orange juice within a few minutes. They didn’t chat as much, usually caught up in their food at times before they decided to start up a chat. When they were done, they both put their dishes in the sink with Lucas being the one to cook, and also clean up. However, Claus intervened.

“Eh,” he said, making Lucas turn around from the faucet he has yet to turn on, “I’ll do them, thanks for the godly food.”

Lucas chuckled a bit, and let Claus clean up. “Thanks!” 

Claus nodded, soaping the sponge with dish cleaner. He began his duty, while Lucas continued on.

“Hey, whatcha plannin’ on doing this weekend?” Lucas was leaning on the counter next to Claus. This was always the crucial question for every weekend that comes. “Since you and Ness are cool, will he be coming over like he used to?”

“I don’t know, it seems too soon.” Claus pursed his lips midway through the sentence. “Plus, he’s probably still sick or something.”

Lucas was quick to reply, “If you guys made up he’s probably fine by now. Hehe.”

Claus lifted a brow at Lucas as he looked at his brother suspiciously. “And what do you mean by _that_?” He scrubbed a particular plate harder than usual.

“Nothing~” Lucas sang, keeping that smile on his face. Claus let the dish slip out of his hands, but caught it before it was a bit too late. He had the wrong idea and Claus didn’t want to know any further, so he just changed the topic as he went back to staring at the nearly done cups and plates.

“Well, what are _you_ doing this weekend?” Claus asked.

“Oh yeah!” Lucas said, seeming as if something just occurred to him again. “Jeff and Ninten will be coming over for a sleepover!” he exclaimed excitedly.

“I don’t like scarfy boy,” Claus replied bluntly.

“Okay okay, he insults people, but I swear he’s joking and he means well,” Lucas ironically was unsure of himself.

“Eh.” Claus shrugged, not caring, yet, not typically taking a like to it. That usually meant the conversation was over and Lucas knew this too, but he kept going.

“You should at _least_ ask Ness if he wants in on this sleepover, though.”

“But it’s a _sleepover…_ ” Claus emphasized, turning the faucet off and drying his hands. He then proceeded to put two hands on his brother’s shoulders. “SLEEPOVER.” 

“Ya, so?” Lucas said purposely dumb. He already knew that it bothered Claus, but he was also trusting of Ness to an extent.

“It’s weird,” Claus concluded.

“C’mon, I thought you and him were good!”

“We are-”

“Doesn’t seem like it. Unless you _lied_ to him to make him feel better.”

Those words right there stabbed Claus in the chest. Reason behind that is because Lucas was probably _right_ , but the twin didn’t want to go back on his reassurance to Ness, especially when the raven-haired boy hasn’t broke the conditions he has set the night before. Ultimately, Claus ended up growing a little red and steamy at his brother’s persistency. Lucas noticed, but he wasn’t really afraid of giving his twin advice at times, even if it’s true and it bothers him so much.

“Then why not let this be a test, then?” Lucas suggested. “If he pulls anything, anything bad, anything _small_ that gets on your nerves, you can toss him out then and there.”

The orange haired twin was bothered by Lucas’ use of the words ‘toss him out,’ but didn’t say anything about it. “Well that’s a bit harsh…” he trailed off without noticing.

“But it’s a good idea~ eh~?” Lucas playfully nudged his brother, proud of his idea that he totally improvised. He had a smug grin on his face that annoyed Claus to no end. Lucas was the quieter of the two, and also the more obedient, however, it was amazing how Claus got annoyed with Lucas more than the other way around.

“Kinda…” Claus puffed his cheeks. “Yeah, fine, I’ll ask, okay? If he dies from his sickness while he’s over here you’re held accountable.”

Lucas just gently laughed jokingly at that, but what he didn’t know was that his brother was completely serious.

* * *

Claus approached his door with much grief, as well as downright _excitement_. They were two emotions that battled each other in the boy’s mind, and quite frankly, Claus just held it in and remained calm. He picked up his phone on his desk, dialed his best friend’s phone number, laid back all chill in his bed, and waited for an answer. A tired voice answered the call. 

“Wha Claws,” Ness’ accent overruled everything at the moment. Clearly, he had just woken up and those were the first things out of his mouth for the day. When the accent became strong, it amused Claus to no end, but right now, it made him feel weird.

“Hi.” It came out so plainly. Claus’ heart beated quick, even though he swore to himself he’d _chill the hell out._

“Hi,” Ness said back mockingly at how straight Claus greeted him. A small chuckle came out from his dry throat.

“Eh…” Claus muttered into the mic of the phone. He didn’t really prepare his words well and was still thinking about how to ask. Even though Ness was his friend for almost all his life, everything right now just became downright awkward for the boy; it was only on Claus’ end, however. He could’ve asked Ness to a sleepover however he wanted, and the raven-haired friend would’ve agreed without a second thought.

“Wha did yew nee?” A yawn was heard from the other side of the phone, with the addition of small coughs.

_Why the heck didn’t I just text this guy?_ Claus squinted at how stupid his decision to call Ness was. Thoughts ran into his head, and Claus immediately regretted what ever happened between him and Ness yesterday night. He regretted the conditions he set forth for Ness, pretending everything would be alright from there on out. His emotions were different yesterday, but his old ones were quick to return the day after. He was _still_ scared of his best friend—uncomfortable moreover.

_Just fucking ask him for a damn sleepover!_ Claus fought his thoughts. _“Would you like to have a sleepover with me?” more like, “Would you like to have sex with me?”_ He ruffled his hair with his free hand. _Kill me_.

“Claws?” Ness was kept waiting over a line of silence. “Yew still there?”

“Y-Yeah…” Claus took in a deep breath, face emerged in the usual pissed off face. “Sleepover with friends, wanna come?”

“Lemme ask mah mum.” Distant rustles were heard over the phone as Ness got off of his bed, then doors opening and closing. Afterwards, a hand was held over the mic so that Ness could ask his mother in private. It took a spare moment, with Ness replying with, “She sad yah, so I can go. When do I come over?”

“...Like around this afternoon. The others are coming around 5 p.m.”

“Okay, I’ll be there.” A moment of silence. “Heh, lots of toime to slep in.”

Instinctively, Claus replied, “Wow, lazy ass,” earning a tired laugh from his friend.

“Yah, you’re not too fah from there!” A breath and small laughter. “Well anyways, see yew!”

“Later.” 

_Click!_

Claus put down his phone with a groan of relief, and immediately went outside his room to find an eavesdropping Lucas.

“Hello~” Lucas waved nonchalantly. He stuck out a silly tongue. “Mr. Awkward."

“If you keep this up I will _burn_ you,” Claus threatened with narrowed eyes. Lucas backed away by that, laughing nervously.

"I'm kidding!" Lucas insisted, "But anyways, let's get things set up!" He put his hands together. 

"Set up _what?_ All we're gonna do is probably play board games and actual console games then talk and warm up frozen food or something for dinner," Claus hit it on point by how offended Lucas looked. 

"Well- what I mean by set up is..." He took Claus by the sleeve and led him towards the stairway where the two were able to see all of the downstairs. "Cleaning."

"Hooooooold up." Claus moved both of his hands that signaled a passionate 'no.' "Why should we clean up? Dude, they're our friends! They won't care!" 

"It's common courtesy!"

"You're annoying and you're formal. Good god." Claus massaged his temples.  

"You love me, though!" Lucas perked up with a grin. Claus shot him an annoyed death glare. "...So let's get to it!"

Lucas began to scurry down the stairs and picked up a stray couch pillow on the ground. Like a pro basketball player, he shot the square pillow back onto one of the two couches they had. 

"SCOOORE-"

However, he didn't manage to see that Claus came downstairs with him as well, and the orange haired boy instinctively knocked down Lucas' tossed pillow to the ground recklessly. He then picked it up and tossed it towards the other couch.

Claus laughed at his feat and then got all up in Lucas' face holding his arms out. "DAAAAAAMN YOU GOT SERVED!"

This time, Lucas was the one being slightly annoyed by his brother's taunts. 

"GIT GUD, SON!"

"I don't wanna clean anymore." Lucas crossed his arms and pouted jokingly. 

"You see?" Claus gestures strongly. "SEE?!"

"Let's watch Netflix or something till they get here," Lucas finalized. 

"Fuck _yes._ "

* * *

It was now nearing the point where the twins' friends were coming over, and the boys were at the end of watching their movie, _The Boy in the Striped Pajamas._ They laid on the couch lazily, their eyes wide.

A small whimper came from Lucas, which made Claus turn to him. The blond boy’s eyes went red, then filled with tears to the brim of his bottom eyelid.

“Oh god, really?” Claus face palmed, not paying attention to his emotion struck brother.

“B-BUT… THE BOY… H-HE..” A loud sniffle came from Lucas as he planted his face down on the couch. Muffled, but audible he whined, “CLLAAAAAUSSSSSSS!”

“It’s just a movie! Chill out!” Claus was beginning to laugh at his brother’s sensitivity. "You're the one who picked this sad movie, anyway."

“I-I know, but I just… need a hug.” Lucas flipped over and held out arms to his brother.

Claus just looked at him and said, “That’ll be hard to find, huh?” He snickered as he put a hand over his mouth.

“ _Claus…!_ ” Lucas whined some more, throwing his hands down. “You’re no help at all!”

“Yeah I am! And you _know_ it.”

“Nuh uh! You always leave me in pain!”

Claus scoffed jokingly. “Looks like you’ll have to find another person to open your jelly jars, then.”

“Okay I’m sorry." Lucas stuck out his bottom lip at Claus. A silence followed, along with both of their laughters bursting out from their mouths. 

_Ding dong!_

"Yay, they're here!" Lucas rolled off the couch and onto his feet. Claus followed suit as he also perked up at the boys' arrival. 

The excited blond opened the door to surprisingly find both boys here at the same time. Nonetheless he greeted them with a smile. 

"What's up?" Ninten smiled.

"Heya!" Jeff greeted along. 

Right now both boys were clad in their usual school clothing along with their backpacks that included their sleepwear. They also brought along sleeping bags just in case they had to sleep on the ground. Lucas made space for them to enter, and they did. 

"If you're wondering, we just car pooled here since I pass Ninten's house on the way," Jeff said, answering Lucas' internal question. "It made things easier."

"And cheaper," added in the scarfed boy. 

The four boys made their way to the living room, which was comfortably spacey. Automatically, both Jeff and Ninten helped themselves to a spot on the couch, not holding back on their habits of slouching. Though the twins didn't bother to clean, the house wasn't bad anyway. They didn't make much of a mess when it's only been them two along with their mother and father.

Ninten examined the house, for it was his first time here. He genuinely thought it was a good looking house, a good looking _and_ big house. 

"Nice house," he commented, "are your guys' parents here?"

Claus left Lucas to do the talking if it had anything to do with the scarfed boy. 

"Nope! Mom's out with her friends and our dad is at work. He usually gets off in the middle of the night."

"Woah, nice!" Ninten grinned at all the freedom they would have at this sleepover. 

"So yeah," Claus came in, "you guys can say 'fuck', 'shit', and 'bitches' to your hearts' desire." 

"Fuck, shit, bitches," Ninten automatically said, earning laughs for both him and Claus. Even the orange haired boy couldn't help but be humorous. By now, the boys were settled in on the couches, which were both facing each other, and a coffee table stood in the middle of them for their convenience. Ninten and Jeff had their bags tossed to the side of the couches carelessly. 

Lucas looked at the wall clock, which told 5:36 p.m. Curiously, he asked Claus, "Hey, wasn't Ness coming?" 

"Maybe, maybe not." Claus tried to sound as if he didn't care, but was reasonable about it. "If he got sicker, then that's probably why." 

"That'd be too bad.." Lucas trailed off. 

"Hold up, Ness was coming?" Jeff asked, confused, "I thought you were mad at him?"

"No, we made up yesterday," Claus replied nonchalantly. 

"More like, 'made _out'."_ Ninten stifled a laugh. 

Claus turned his head dangerously and looked at the scarfed boy with narrowed eyes. 

"Hey, I was just kidding!" Ninten sweated a little, smiling crookedly. "I think it's awesome how you two were able to kiss and make up again!" 

_This guy and his gay jokes..._ Claus steamed red. 

"HE'S KIDDING..." Lucas patted his tomato red brother on the head. Meanwhile, Jeff listened and laughed along with all that was happening. 

_Ding dong!_

"Speak of the devil," Ninten whipped his head around towards the door. Already, Claus got up and was the one to answer it seconds after he heard the sound. 

Claus breathed in, not wanting to appear to take too long answering the door. From there, he twisted the knob to find his best friend there, looking more alive than yesterday. 

"Hey!" Ness grinned. 

"’Sup," Claus said back. The two instinctively gave each other their usual handshake. 

Ness came in, also in his usual attire, backpack, and sleeping bag as Claus closed and locked the door behind him. Ness carefully laid his stuff to the side, and was mildly surprised to find that another one of his friends was here. 

"Woah, hey Ninten!" Ness waved, coming over to greet him. "I didn't know you were friends with these guys!" 

"Yeah, I didn't know you were either, until they told me." Ninten grinned.

"You guys _know_ each other?" Claus asked, a little disgusted by how the scarfed gay joke-maker knew his best friend.

"Yeah!" Ness chuckled, remembering the story he was about to tell everyone in the room. "We met each other on the first day of biology, and were freaked out by how alike we looked. So we ended up talking and now we're friends."

Now that the two were next to each other for once, Jeff, Claus, and Lucas took this time to examine both of the boys' faces. 

"Oh my god... They _do_ look alike." Jeff had to push his glasses back up again. "This has obviously got to do with some kind of clone machine... And the dynamics of the molecules reproducing similar characteristics simultaneously as the process..." he went off on a tangent as everyone from there just heard foreign scientific jargon and basically stuff they didn't know, and didn't want to know. 

"Eh... But something's off..." Lucas continued glossing over their physical traits. "I just can't put my finger on it..." 

"One has a scarf," Claus pointed out mockingly at Lucas. Lucas looked unamused at his brother's answer, which made the orange haired one snicker.

"Well no duh!" the blond exclaimed. "There's something else! Gosh, this is harder than the 'I Spy' books..."

"One is obviously more retarded than the other." Claus tossed a little smirk at Ninten.

"Man, you're a douche!" Ninten crossed his arms, mumbling to himself. Claus laughed at him.

Lucas didn't pay attention, for he was still trying to configure his thoughts. The blond was smart, but things like this stumped him even though the answer is staring him right in the face. 

"Dude, Luke, I think the answer you're looking for is that Ness is slightly tanner than Ninten," Claus finally answered seriously. 

Lucas put his hands together. "A hah! That's it!"

"He's also a smidge taller than Ninten. Different eye colors, too." Claus added in another. 

"Yeah, an-"

"Overall, one is just _better_ and we'll leave it at that," Claus concluded, smiling at Ninten's offended face. Ness smiled as well, to himself, but Claus didn't seem to notice the compliment he had given him. 

Ninten mouthed the words 'I will get you back' to Claus, but the boy just shrugged it off with a smug face. Their relationship so far is none other than sarcastic remarks. Though they made fun of each other jokingly, they still weren't aware whether or not the other really was kidding, nor were they sure the other hated them for it or not. Regardless, they went on believing that as is without giving it much other thought. They decided they would just roll with it and whatever happens, happens. 

"... And the intermolecular activities fused and became one cell," Jeff finally finished with his jargon talk.

Ness chuckled at the nerd. "They've already finished their game of 'Find the Difference.'" Jeff's eyes widened, clearly aware that he went on talking to himself _again. "_ So now that that's finished, what's next?" 

"Well there's a number of stuff we could do..." Lucas fiddled with his fingers. "There's video games, board games, Netflix, hot pockets... Yeah. What did you guys wanna do?"

Ninten coughed loudly to catch everyone's attention. He then raised one of his hands as if he were in school. "Tell me, do you guys have Mario Kart _8,_ by any chance?"

"Yeah, why?" 

With that response, Ninten jumped on top of the coffee table and replied, "Because I'm gonna fuck everyone up."

"Uh... Actually..." Claus scratched the back of his head as his eyes darted to Ness, who was already approaching Ninten. 

"Let's see you try. Heh." Ness furrowed his brows and stared at the scarfed boy with challenge-seeking eyes.

Ninten backed off a bit, not expecting this from the hatted boy. Nonetheless he replied with the same amount of vigor, "BRING IT, KID! I AM THE MASTER OF ALL THAT IS KARTING."

The other 3 just stared at them as they tossed comebacks at each other repeatedly. However, Claus noticed a problem and went to ask Jeff about it. 

"Hey, it only allows up to 4 players, mind switching rounds with me?" 

"Nah, it's fine. I don't really like to play games, but I'd love to see how those two would react." Jeff smirked at that. 

"Alright," Claus nodded. Meanwhile, Lucas started up the game for them to play. Sillily and clumsily, the boys piled up on one couch facing their big TV. Lucas sat on the far left, followed up by Ninten, Ness, Claus, then Jeff on the far right. The screen flashed brightly in the living room as the sky outside started to dim as time went on. 

Lucas was the one to choose and set up the race as him and his friends all chose their characters. Ninten being Yoshi, Claus choosing Toad, Ness using Shy Guy, and Lucas, who played a mean Princess Peach. The first race started, and off the boys went. They all started off strong, keeping the computer players at bay, with them all fighting for 1st place constantly. 

3rd lap, Ninten was in the lead with Ness second.

"Hah! I've got this one in the bag!" he taunted, making the last curve until he were to pass the finish line. However, Ness luckily got a red shell before that happened. 

"You're _fucked,"_ Ness emphasized, casting out the faithful item. 

"You've gotta be shitting me." 

The red shell hit Ninten and Ness zoomed right past him, earning him first place. The hatted boy got up from the couch and danced in front of the scarfed one mockingly. 

" _Who's_ the master, again?" Ness put a hand behind his ear and showed Ninten. "I couldn't hear you over my first place win!"

"I'll beat you next time, dammit." Ninten was thoroughly embarrassed, but had fun all the meanwhile. 

The next two races basically ended the same as the first race did. Ness kept getting 1st place, Ninten second, Lucas 3rd, and Claus 4th or below. Claus liked to play video games on a daily basis, but racing games were never his forte. Somehow, someway, he could not communicate his brain waves to his fingers to NOT fall into oblivion during races. 

"Goddammit. Why. A blue shell, REALLY?!" Ninten exclaimed at the screen then at Ness, "I should've gotten first place that last round and you know it!!"

"No need to be so salty here, Ninten. Ahahaha!" Jeff pounded his fist on the couch from laughter. 

"But it's so unfaaaaair!" Ninten whined. "Well, at least I'm not doing as bad as Claus is."

" _Hey_ ," Claus began, looking angrily at Ninten. He didn't have anything to back him up with because he knew, himself, that he was bad at the game. So he ended up just saying, "Shut up."

Ninten stuck out a tongue, still steamrolling Claus with his cruel joke, "Mr. 7th Place~ hahaha!"

Lucas and Jeff couldn't help but humor Ninten, but Ness just sat there staring interestingly at Claus' reaction while he knew the other boy wasn't watching. The raven-haired boy's violet eyes glimmered, clearly aware of what Claus was going to say next. The orange haired boy always took games seriously over time; and Ness knew it, too. He never knew a boy more passionate about anything in so little time.

Claus growled at Ninten's challenging words and carelessly shouted, "I'LL KICK YOUR ASS THIS ROUND, WATCH ME!"

"Woah~~~ that's a huge jump in skill, there," Ninten still caught Claus in a good comeback earning an 'oooooh~' from Jeff on the far right. 

"I swear to fucking god I will rip off that scarf and shove it down your _throat_." For sure, Claus will never run out of death threats, and his look will neither be less than genuine when he says it. It even affected Ninten with a tiny bit of fear, but was easily shaken off.

And so, the next and final stage started with Claus trying harder than usual to beat the annoying Ninten and show him up just this once. It worked, and somehow Claus kept getting lucky with his movements and items. 

"Game, oh my god," Ninten complained midway through the race, "please stop giving this mad ginger 3 red shells." He came up with another name to call Claus. Jeff sputtered at the comment and nearly hit the floor dying in laughter.

Last lap, Claus was right behind Ninten and in front of Lucas for once; Ness, of course, was still in first place and held it solidly. Claus had just obtained three red shells with which he was going to rip away Ninten's soul with and cast him down into the deep depths of hell where not even Lakitu could pull up his kart from. 

_Die,_ Claus finalized as he shot the red shell right at Ninten's kart. He zoomed past the boy's kart, and got up way ahead. 

"Fuck!" Ninten cursed, but not too harshly to make others think he was actually mad about it. 

Claus was nearing Ness' kart, still two red shells in his resource. Ness really wasn't surprised when Claus managed to pass Ninten, because he knew the boy could do basically anything if he's, well, _mad_ about it. He's been Claus' friend long enough to know these things, and he admired him for it, because most of the time he _did_ get mad at things.

Claus shot a shell, however, Ness curved around a bend before he could get hit in time. One shell left, and the finish line was approaching. Claus must aim this one correctly if he was going to win. The boy clutched his controller harder, and leaned over on the couch for more focus. 

Ness wanted to admit, he didn't want to lose along with Ninten, so he kept his defenses up. Knowing Claus had only one more shell to aim, he figured he would just use future obstacles to keep him from getting hit. All was going well for the hatted boy, until something touched him. Something that made his memories flood back immediately. 

As Claus deepened his focus on the game, he didn't notice he had leaned in closer to the screen, and closer to Ness' side. The concentrated boy ended up rubbing his leg against Ness', putting off his thought process.

Ness furrowed his brows, eyes on the screen, feeling the leg Claus has pressed against him. 

_"N-Nnnn... a-ahh…”_

_"You like that, don't you?"_

Ness groaned out of nowhere as his hands shook from his former impulsiveness. Claus shot the red shell, and hit Ness' kart. 

_"P-Please, Ness..."_

Ness winced, unable to keep his thoughts on the game alone. All he could feel is his friend’s leg rubbing up and down his own. It was a small, yet significant touch that he could not escape. The orange haired boy’s overall concentration has put him to the brink, unknowingly passing Ness’ comfort zone.

"Oh my fucking _god,"_ Ness muttered aloud. 

Claus successfully got over the finish line before him, who got second. The suffering ended as soon as the victorious boy stood up, and got all up in Ninten's face. 

"OWNED!" Claus stomped his foot in front of the scarfed boy, who only scoffed at him. Whereas, Jeff and Lucas clapped cheerfully at him. 

"This is bullshit, seriously." Ninten slouched all the way back on his part of the couch and stared hatefully at the boy. "You obviously cheated." 

Claus only laughed in triumph.

Meanwhile, Ness hung his head down as his bangs layered more upon his forehead. No one seemed to notice him until Claus did. Ness felt Claus' emerald eyes on him, to which he snapped up immediately, saying, "Damn, I lost. I can't believe it..."

"Never doubt my untapped skill," Claus only went to further boast. He currently wore a smug smile on his face.

"This game sucks, now." Ninten dropped his controller to the coffee table. "Looks like I'm going to have to find another game to get good at." He was only half-joking about that, and his seemingly serious comments always came off as a joke to the rest. 

"Me too, me too." Now Ness was holding his head up with his hands as he rested his elbows on his thighs. 

Lucas stared blankly at the two soulless boys and decided for the best. "I... I think we should play something else now!" He smiled nervously. 

"Yeah, those 4 games were the most intense things I've seen this week," Jeff exaggerated, but was not lying, either. Everyone else nodded in agreement. 

"Let's play a game on the kitchen table or something," Lucas suggested, turning off the Wii U and leading everyone into the kitchen. All of the boys followed suit, with Ness being the last to enter as he trailed directly behind his best friend.

Unknowingly, the hatted boy found himself staring at Claus' ass as they went. All he did was scoff to himself in disdain, sighing afterwards. 

_Maybe Ninten was right,_ Ness thought, _Claus totally did cheat._


	7. A Balanced Party Game

Ness was careful to pick his seat this time. He did not care whether or not he and Claus had just made up, nor did he care that best friends would usually pick the seat right next to each other. 

The twins’ kitchen table was how it was the last time the hatted boy has seen it. A clean, rectangular wooden table with a fresh red cloth over it. It holds the potential to hold six people, two on each long side, and one on the shorter sides. Lucas was quick to choose a seat on a side that would take 2 people, and Jeff sat right next to him. As for Ness, before Claus would sit down, he had chosen one of the singular seats on the end, hoping Claus would be sat on the far side from him. However, that would mean Ninten would be stuck sitting next to Claus.

“Someone wanna switch seats with me?” Ninten asked, putting up a hand and looking at everyone. “Forewarning, I might implode next to this ginger over an increased amount of time.”

“Call me ginger  _ one _ more time…” Claus threatened, clutching his fists. Both Ninten and Claus didn’t take their seats quite yet, hoping someone would switch off. Lucas and Jeff became best friends, so Ninten didn’t want to make them move. Immediately, his eyes shifted to Ness’ violet ones.

Suddenly, a surge of mischievous emotion emerged within the scarfed boy as he remembered Ness’ former feelings for Claus. At first, Ninten didn’t quite care about Claus’ overall problem with the hatted one, but over time he grew to just acknowledge it, despite it wasn’t his business whatsoever. He wasn’t as close to Claus, but he internally wanted to be, and hoped that soon they will both come to an understanding that their sarcastic marks are a sign of their friendship. However, right now, he was a closer friend to Ness. He was already aware that the boy was gone sick for two weeks way before Claus found out; he didn’t want to mention it, wanting the orange haired one to find out for himself. Furthermore, though he met Jeff through Lucas, he found friendship with the hatted boy on his own time by just looking like him.

“Hey~ Ness! Switch with me, dude!” Ninten said with a smile, patting the wooden chair as a gesture. 

“I think I’m good.” Ness kept his overall cool, until Claus passed him an offended look. “...I just like this seat so much…!” He faked a smile.

“So you’re just gonna let me sit next to your dumber twin?” Claus argued, tapping his foot with impatience. Ninten kept his mouth shut this time.

Ness’ eyes flew to Ninten, who just shrugged as he smiled. Then it switched onto Claus’, who just stared at him with not so much of a ‘pleased’ expression. Ness sighed, hung his head down, got up from his seat, then sat next to Claus. However, he put a bit of space between him and the boy he wished he didn’t like in the first place.

“That’s much better~” Ninten spread out his arms and legs as he settled into Ness’ former seat.

Quietly, Jeff whispered to Lucas, “Hey, do you think it was a mistake to invite Ninten? Him and Claus don’t seem to get along at all.” He held a flat expression, looking a bit disappointed.

Lucas replied in the same dynamic, “I’m sure they’ll get along after a while. Their personalities are just clashing; they probably need more time.”

“If you say so. Don’t forget there’s Ness, too.” Jeff leaned away from Lucas and sat straight up again before he could reply. Lucas looked a bit worried, hoping that everything will go fine and that both of the insulting boys won’t get any further than a vocal fight. 

Lucas made haste and broke the tension and awkwardness that he sensed. “S-So we got cards, and Monopoly… and the Game of Life…!” Lucas trailed off as he stammered his words. The attention he received from the 4 others put unneeded pressure on his shoulders.

“... _ Eh _ .” Ninten shrugged, unpleased by the selection. “Anything more  _ entertaining _ ?”

Ness read Ninten like a book and started to sense the naughty vibe he was giving off. Claus just didn’t care about what they did and slouched back on the wooden chair.

“Uh, like what?” asked Lucas, “We could also play horror games or watch a movie with popcorn if you want.” The boy had hopeful eyes.

“ _ Meh… _ ” Ninten still wasn’t pleased. However, in mere seconds his straight mouth curved into a sly smirk. “Why not something cooler? Stuff like Truth or Dare, Nervous, or a blindfold game?”

“Dude.” Claus turned his head to the scarfed boy with one eyebrow lifted. “Are you freaking  _ sick _ or something? Aren’t you aware that we’re all guys here?”

“What’s ‘Nervous’?” Lucas asked, innocently. Everyone turned to him with an expression of surprise.

“Okay.” Claus held a straight face. “ _ That _ game is off our list.”

Lucas still insisted, “But I still don’t-”

Ninten interrupted Lucas and smiled at him as he did so, “It’s definitely alright, Lucas. After all, I’m completely fine with using you as an example~” He casually got up and slung an arm around him.

“ _ NO. _ ” Claus arose from his seat, making Ninten back off his brother, laughing. Lucas still didn’t understand.

The innocent blond fiddled with his fingers on top of the table, “Then w-what about the blindfold game?”

“Again, I’ll gladly show-” 

Claus stopped Ninten in his tracks as he flicked a spare rubber band from his pocket at the scarfed one.

“ACK-” Ninten held his hurt cheek. “I was KIDDING! Jesus!” 

Lucas found himself unintentionally blushing at something he didn’t quite understand. However, he let it slide, figuring it might not be a good idea to know what he was talking about, after all.

“You know what?” Claus grit his teeth. “I think I’ll settle for a little Truth or Dare so I could make you go kill yourself.”

Ness couldn’t really find his way to slip into the conversation, but nonetheless he pointed out, “I don’t think that’s a good idea to… do…”

“It’s a great idea, I’ll kill him either emotionally or physically, and you’ll help me, Ness.” Claus scooted in closer to the hatted boy and patted him on the shoulder. Ness only responded back with an insignificant shift in his seat to put space in between him and Claus. Unknowingly, Claus felt himself with less pressure if he and Ness were to be around all their friends, instead of just themselves around. He wasn’t a complete nervous and defensive wreck because he knew he was completely safe with Jeff and Lucas with him.

“ _ Bring it _ ,” Ninten snickered. “To be fair, let’s all rock-paper-scissors on who gets to go first and we’ll just go clockwise from there.”

Everyone nodded, and held out a fist. 

“Rock - paper - scissors!” 

They all threw out their choice of weapon. They all gasped at the result, clearly not expecting it to happen. It turned out to be that everyone threw out a rock, and Jeff was the only one to throw out paper.

“What the hell is this,” Ness said with awe, “you guys are so lazy at moving your hands into anything  _ other _ than rock.”

“Says you!” Lucas whined, though, not seriously.

“You guys forget that Jeff is so much of a genius that he could even tell the future,” Claus pointed out, smiling.

“Seriously, fuck you Jeff,” was all Ninten said, jokingly.

Meanwhile, the smart blond was laughing really hard at everyone’s reaction. “Pff- ahahahaa! Oh my god! Haha!” He let his head rest down on the table as he kept laughing at the unexpected outcome. After his laughing fest, he gathered himself once again and said, “Well, I think I should— *breathes in*— go first, now!” His eyes flew to each boy and decided to let Claus and Ninten, indeed, duke it out with themselves, so he chose Lucas to ask. 

"Lucas, truth or dare?" Jeff asked.

"Dare!" Lucas had a fiery spark in his cerulean eyes. He had always found this game fun and cruel, but the good kind. 

"Alright..." Jeff was thinking, stroking a bit of his chin as he looked around the kitchen. His eyes landed on the sink. "I dare you to get the dish washer soap and take a mouthful of it. And you need to hold it in your mouth for 10 seconds." 

Lucas' eyes went wide. "B-But... It's nasty!" He already had a disgusted look on his face from remembering the time he accidentally tasted his fingers while he was trying to wipe something off his lip during one of his dishwashing chores. 

Jeff stifled a laugh, "Better do it or else!"

"Or else what?" 

Ninten cut in. "OH!" He had a genius idea. "Or you'll have to spend the rest of the sleepover in your underwear!"

Everyone had a look of fright in their eyes, yet, excitement. It was an amusing thought of humiliation and no one went against it because it felt so... fair. 

"Okay, okay!" Lucas got out of his chair and went over to the sink. Hesitantly, he picked up the bottle, swearing he would get back at Jeff, himself. From that point on, he squirted a mouthful, gagging instantly as he counted the seconds on the wall clock. "MMNNNGHHG!!" his whines of disgust made everyone laugh, and after the ten second mark, the boy threw up the liquid soap in the sink, turned on the faucet, and desperately washed out his mouth. After thoroughly cleaned, the taste remained, and would remain there for a long while. Knowing this, Lucas angrily stomped back to his seat and stared daggers at his 'best friend.'

"You... are death to me." Lucas glared, but not a single person could bear to take him seriously. 

"You picked dare, mind you~" Jeff sang. This meant war for the blond boy. 

Lucas pouted then yelled, "MY TURN!" His head whipped towards his frienemy, Jeff. "JEFF! Truth or dare?!"

" _ Truth." _ Jeff smiled smugly. 

"A HAH!" Lucas pointed an accusing finger. "I GOT YOU NOW!” Lucas looked evilly at Jeff, but it all faded away when it came down to asking the question. “W-What kind of sex toys do you use to get off? And don't lie because I've seen some stuff under your bed before!" 

Claus' jaw dropped when Lucas used the words 'sex toy' and ‘get off.’ Basically everyone else's jaw dropped, too. Meanwhile, Jeff looked as if he's been assaulted as a massive blush exploded over his white face. It was a scene where no one ever thought they'd get to witness; the genius straightened out his glasses, and his hands covered his vulnerable expression that laid on his face. 

"I h-hate you so much!" Jeff yelled at his blond friend. Lucas stood there proudly. 

"I actually find myself wanting to  _ know  _ what this genius gets off with," Ninten admitted, "DO TELL!"

Jeff shook, "I-I..." He averted his eyes from everyone's center of curiosity. "R-Robots..."

"...Robots?" Lucas tilted his head.

Jeff nodded weakly. "I made them... girl robots.. Their mouths... v-vibrate. They can moan, too."

"Holy  _ shit _ ." Claus and everyone else was flabbergasted.

"You should share, Jeff." Ness winked at the genius, earning laughters from Claus and Ninten. 

"Y-You be quiet!!" Jeff shouted, clearly embarrassed. "Just hurry up and go next, Ninten!"

"Hahaha!! Alriiiight!" He held a mischievous smile as his eyes skimmed over Claus, then towards Ness. "Ness, truth or dare~?"

"I thought you were going to kill  _ me, _ " Claus said, confused. 

"Oh, no, I plan to." Ninten stuck out a playful tongue. He looked back at Ness. "So? Truth or dare?" Ninten didn't care, for he had both slots backed up for causing trouble. 

One of Ness' eyebrows twitched, as if detecting something horrible. Ninten was a good friend and all, but the hatted boy's 6th sense just rang whenever it needed to, as if he were a psychic. He thought conservatively and figured less damage would be done if he just chose truth. "..Truth."

"Boring~!" Ninten chuckled. "But it's a good one: Explain one of your sexual fantasies with Claus in full detail."

" _ N-NINTEN _ !!" Ness flustered. "Why would you even ask..?!" He furrowed his eyebrows as his emotions rushed out with his dirty mind taking over. Ninten shrugged, smiling. When Ness couldn't get an answer out of the scarfed boy, he turned to Claus, who looked just as angry at how Ninten pinpointed a very sensitive spot to hurt. "Ah god..." 

Claus didn't know what to say to Ness. There was only one thing he  _ could  _ say, but it wasn't a good idea to. He wanted to tell Ness how uncomfortable he felt, how much he wanted to run away just not to see his face. He also wanted to  _ purge  _ the scarfed boy. 

"C-Claus...?" Ness looked directly into his best friend's emerald eyes, which looked back with nothing to hide. It was almost as if all the negative thoughts were communicated directly to Ness. The orange haired boy was blushing from his cheeks all the way back to his ears. It was a sight. Ninten's mission: Destroy the enemy target, Claus, Complete.

"So~ Ness, we're waiting on you~" Ninten sang out his words more than usual. 

"You're being mean, Ninten!" Lucas said gently, puffing up a single cheek. Jeff wanted no part in this. 

"Ugh," Ness groaned. "I can't answer that, no. Fuck off, Ninten!" he cursed. Ninten remained unfazed, however. Seeing this, Ness just got up from his chair, surprising everyone. He took his right hand, and held it squarely in front of Ninten as he flipped the bird. Then, casually, he walked off to the side and started to shakily remove his belt.

"U-Uh..." Claus looked the other way, his blush only raging on even more. 

The clinks of Ness' belt seemed to be the only thing ringing in everyone's ears. To spare his embarrassment, they looked away like Claus did; even Ninten did so, feeling bad for the hatted boy.

When Ness was done, he turned around just not giving a damn anymore. "Hey, you guys can look, now." They turned, most of them flustering at the sight. At first, Ness was shy about it, but in the end he calmed down. They're his friends and they're all male. Nothing bad will happen other than giving them the one time experience of seeing him in a cute, red, heart-themed boxers that had  _ ‘Love me’  _ sensually labeled where his manhood was concealed under. 

The situation was none other than hands-down awkward, but Ness, he always knew how to break even the thickest of ice. 

"Don't stare too long, you guys just might turn gay for me," Ness joked as he proceeded to gesture towards his boxers, "I bet you just wanted to see me like this, huh, Ninten~?" The exposed boy only went as far as to take off his hat and reveal his disheveled hair. From there, he ran a hand through his locks and winked at the scarfed boy, nearly representing something face off the Playgirl magazines. "You could've just asked~" his voice mimicked a bad version of a girl's. 

"OH MY GOD. NESS. PLEASE STOP." Ninten averted his eyes as if he had seen something too bright. However, he had a smile plastered on his face as he laughed, hard. This is why Ninten loved Ness as a friend so much, he was a damn weirdo when time needed him to be.

However, Ness' sensual steps to get where he was right now wasn't for that reason. Claus was freaked out, and he knew. Again, he saw that clear fear that the orange haired boy would wear on his face; one that meant he wanted to make a run for it and never come back. He wasn't going to repeat his mistakes or let Ninten ruin anything for him, despite the harmless joke Ninten saw in his truth question. But now... now he got the boys to laugh at his joke. As for Claus, Ness felt reassurance from his smile and small laughs. Oh, the things the hatted one would do to not return home, sick with the fever again for another two weeks because Claus would ignore him again. 

Afterwards, Ness sat back down, hat back on, and shorts off. Everything was chill, now, and Claus seemed to be more out of shock than he originally was; in fact, he was fine. Totally cool. If only his eyes could find its way anywhere else other than his best friend's underwear. Claus felt like he didn't want to look, but he couldn't help it.

Everyone seemed to mind their own business by now, with Ninten saying, “Next! Ness, you go.”

“Ninten,” Ness began. Ninten perked up his ears, already ready for the boy’s revenge. “Fuck you," he stated before he turned to his friend Claus. “Claus! Truth or dare?”

“WOW NESS.” Ninten face palmed. Claus nudged Ness as he had a laughing fit. Ness just smiled on; he wasn’t one to hold grudges against people like Ninten. 

“Haha! Ah, um. Hm.” Claus took a moment to think. “Er, dare?” He wasn’t so sure. Ness was already ready for that answer.

“Claus, I dare you to take off Ninten’s scarf and treat him to 17 lashes with it.”

“What, NO!” Ninten held on to his red scarf for dear life. He only ever took it off when he showered or when he really,  _ really _ needed to, but in his sleep he’d still keep it on, and he’d still keep it on even during the hottest of summers. He had a strange attachment to it, but no one really knew why.

“Please know that I’ll still do it if you told me to give him a  _ thousand _ lashes, Ness,” Claus concluded, nodding. However, the orange haired boy already got up and was walking to Ninten’s seat. The scarfed one panicked, still clutching onto his warm cloth that wrapped around and concealed his neck area. 

“No no no no no no no-” Ninten broke out of his chair and made a run for it. Like little boys, Claus chose to chase after him. 

“Don’t break anything you guys!” Lucas yelled, watching them run recklessly in circles from the living room and back to the kitchen. Both rooms were linked in a loop, fortunately, for Ninten, but the boy spiced up the chase by going up their stairs. Claus gave up and looked upwards at Ninten, who hung over the staircase rail looking back down at him, along with the rest of the boys who followed them in curiosity. 

“If you don’t let me do it,  _ I _ have to take my underwear off!” Claus yelled, “Get down here!” 

“Either you take off my scarf and hit me with it, or you take off your shorts. Either way, it’s a win-win for Ness.” Ninten held up a thoughtful finger. It was as if whatever came out of the boys’ mouths made Lucas and Jeff laugh.

“Oh, fuck  _ you _ .” Claus regretted ever announcing his Ness problem to Lucas and Jeff while Ninten was around. He was about to bound after Ninten once again, when Ness yelled up to the scarfed boy.

“NINTEN! How ‘bout this? Why don't  _ you _ take off your shorts if you don't wanna take off your sc—”

_ Clink! _

Ness’ sentence was interrupted by the toss of Ninten’s shorts down onto his shoulders. He was clad in a rather interesting pair of boxers by how the other boys saw it. It was Star Wars themed with red lightsabers clashing in the front, and the words ‘Join the dark side,’ written on the back. Regardless of the embarrassing imprints, Ninten’s rule #1, shorts come off before the scarf does. 

Ness pulled off Ninten’s slightly heavy jean shorts off his shoulders. “Well that works.”

Claus just shrugged, smiling. “Damn, I wanted to lash him, but I guess this is fine too.” Ninten glowered at him. Afterwards, they all returned back to their seats, amused by this Truth or Dare game altogether. 

“It seems like this game just turned into ‘Let’s see how many guys we can get in their underwear before this game ends,’” Jeff pointed out. 

“Indeed it is, and you’ll be one of them,” Lucas promised, putting a reassuring hand on Jeff’s shoulder. The genius was genuinely freaked, completely insecure about showing skin; he would always show up to school in long green pants as opposed to everyone in this room who had a thing for shorts and high knee socks. Personally, he never understood their tastes, but hung out with them anyway.

“Claus, it is now your turn to reign your corruption,” Ness said figuratively, which would probably turn into literal language since Claus was the one doing it. The orange haired boy smirked evilly, but then kept a straight face so as to not seem as if he was plotting something bad, even though  _ everyone _ knew he was.

“Lucas, truth or dare?” Claus asked kindly, smiling.

“Huh?” the boy tilted his head. “Why me?”

“Just go, Luke.” Claus was snickering internally. Lucas thought it was an innocent turn, since Ninten was the one he was going after. He trusted his brother, and wanted to avoid any embarrassing questions that he had asked Jeff, and what Ninten had asked Ness.

“Dare!” Lucas grinned. 

_ Yes, _ Claus cheered mentally. He then wore a fake somber expression as he spoke to his blond twin, who now started to look worried. “Look, Luke, I’m your brother and I love you, but my hatred for Ninten is more powerful than that.” A smile broke his straight expression. “I dare you to sit on Ninten’s lap for the remainder of the game.”

Ninten sputtered dramatically.

“ _ Claus! _ ” Lucas grew red. “You were my brother! I  _ trusted  _ you!” He crossed his arms cutely. Claus held up his hands, signalling he didn’t mean to do harm. “I’d rather take my shorts off than that…”

“LUCAS, DO NOT,” Ness warned instantly. “If you do that Claus will probably dare you the same thing again, but it’d only be  _ worse _ .”

“Hey, I’m not that cruel!” Claus defended himself, “Yeah, but you hit that on the nail there, Ness.”

A bead of sweat went down Lucas' face from shock. However, the victimized blond wasn’t the only one in the most awkward and nervous state. Ninten, too, was freaked out that he couldn’t even say anything. And so from there, Lucas’ movements stammered, trailing his feet over to Ninten’s seat. The scarfed boy hesitantly slid back on the chair and made room for the shorter boy to sit on his lap. It was surprisingly comfortable to the both of them, however, if they weren’t so embarrassed out of their minds they would’ve noticed.

Meanwhile, Claus sat back in his chair, completely satisfied with the work that has been done. “Yo, Jeffy, your turn~!”

“This game has gotten so  _ gay _ ,” Jeff commented, straightening his glasses out yet again. He shrugged, then casually asked, “Claus, truth or dare?”

“Eh, dare.” Claus literally felt finished by now, as if his work has paid off. He never thought he’d ever get the scarfed one to just shut up. Jeff spaced out a bit, and sat silent, staring at the orange haired boy, who looked at him weirdly.

“You think I’m a good friend, huh Claus?” Jeff continued staring. Claus started to get the wrong idea and realized he made a mistake over impulse of wanting to say ‘dare.'. He thought Jeff would just dare him to do some sort of generic slapstick dare.

“Jeff,  _ please _ .” Claus put his hands together. “I’ll buy you all the robot parts you’ll ever need, just-  _ don’t _ .” 

Ness already felt a blush well up to his cheeks. He clutched his fists from beneath the table. Heat rushed to his sensitive spot and his mind felt numb. From the corner of his eye he spotted a tent formation already underneath his boxers. It was hard to control himself, but at least his face was good; everything going wrong with his body that he had no control over was perfectly hidden beneath his mask.

“But then you kinda made your brother do it… so…” Jeff trailed off. “Claus… I dare you to sit on Ness’ lap for the remainder of the game.” 

Lucas’ eyes glistened at the heroism of the dare Jeff just gave, but he quickly grew worrisome for his brother. He, himself, was uncomfortable with having to sit on Ninten’s lap, but he thought that maybe it was a bit  _ much _ for Claus, considering his unsettled relationship with Ness. Claus cursed in his head; he didn’t want to get out of his seat, nor was Ness even ready to scoot out from under the table. 

“ _ C’mon _ Claus, it’s just sitting in his lap,” Ninten said from above Lucas’ shoulder, which he rested his chin upon. “What’s so bad about it?”

Claus shook his head, his expression clearly full of discontent. 

Ninten sighed, “Dude, you guys made up, what did you two even do?  _ Kiss _ ? Big deal.”

Now that sentence was just cruel and unreasonable to the hatted boy.

“Anything but,” Ness said, hurtfully, catching everyone off guard. What Ninten just said instantly turned him off; the feeling was replaced with silent anger. Ninten’s eyes widened at the fact that he now noticed he probably went too far this time. “Ninten, could I talk to you in the backyard?” Ness got up and Lucas got off of Ninten as he let the boy go with Ness outside. After all, it was more of a command than a question. 

Ness slid open the glass door that led to the backyard, waiting for Ninten to walk out, as well. After he did, Ness followed behind him. Wanting privacy, the hatted boy pulled over the curtain to conceal the outside before he closed the glass door shut. Ness sighed, then turned around to a panicked, worrisome Ninten. The scarfed boy smiled nervously, receiving no such similar expression from the other.

“...What?” Ninten did a double take on Ness.

“Are you  _ fucking _ serious, Ninten? Do you not know how much you’re pissing me the hell off right now?” Ness sounded furious, biting the bottom lip of his mouth every now and then.

“You didn’t  _ look _ pissed those other times.” Ninten shrugged, clearly guilty, but trying to brush it off. 

“Yeah, that time you asked me the damn truth question about my sexual fantasies with Claus; I let that slide. But now you’re  _ really  _ pushing it this time.”

“And what? Jeff wasn’t partially to blame?”

“He doesn’t know what the hell is going on!” Ness shouted, his arms going up momentarily.

“Yes he does, they all know. Claus complained to us about your  _ mature _ behavior around him.”

Ness looked angrily shocked. His eyes narrowed darkly, but softened a bit because he wasn’t the type to get too mad about things. He took off his hat to wipe off small sweat beads that formed on his forehead as both he and Ninten let the fresh cold air outside brush against their skin.

Ninten breathed out stressfully. “He didn’t go into detail, if it’s  _ that _ bad,” he reassured. This helped Ness just a bit. “All we know is that you like him a lot and that you guys made up just yesterday when you picked up Claus to drive him home.” 

Ness didn’t say anything yet and let Ninten continue.

“Everything I did there was a joke. I’m sorry if it actually hurt or bothered you in any way.” 

Ness replaced his hat and quickly forgave his first new high school friend that he met. “It’s… fine. Just limit it a little.”

“Yeah, okay.” Ninten nodded understandingly. “...But why so awkward around your best friend, Claus?”

Ness scratched the back of his head in frustration. “It’s hard to explain, he ignored me for awhile, which you’re probably aware of. Because I did some  _ things. _ ” By the look on Ninten’s face, Ness didn’t need to explain because he already understood. “We made up yesterday, but it’s not healed, and it’s not the same,  _ yet _ . I promised I wouldn’t do any homo stuff around him because of how scared he gets.”

Ninten scoffed playfully at the thought of Claus being a little scaredy cat; in fact, he never could picture the boy like that at all after the many times he sat with him, Lucas and Jeff. In the end he just never knew the kid as much as he thought he did. “C’mon, why don’t you just try swooning him and making him like you back? You messed up, but just try again or something…”

“It’s not that simple,” Ness replied gloomily, “I can’t do that.”

“Well you haven’t even trieeeeeed,” Ninten exaggerated.

“You don’t get it, Claus is straight. Straighter than a ruler.”

“Well some rulers are flexible and can bend just a little-”

“This isn’t a joke, Ninten.” Ness tapped his fingers on his boxers impatiently.

“I’m just wondering why you’d give up on something like that, haven’t you guys been together like, since forever?”

“Exactly, I don’t like the thought of risking a friendship like that to just try.”

Ninten grew tired of Ness’ stubbornness that he groaned aloud. "That's because you came onto him so intensely and all at once before you could even hear him out. And quite frankly, that's  _ your _ damn fault."

“I know, fuck. Why do you think I’m doing the things I’m doing?!” 

“Ness, I know things like this could work.”

“And I should believe in that, because…?”

“Because I saw it with my own eyes!” The scarfed boy widened his eyelids for a better effect. Ness raised a brow. “Claus ignored you, yes? He sure wasn’t happy every day since he did. He’d always drop his food, and stare at me as if he wanted to kill me, and note that, I DIDN’T EVEN SAY ANYTHING BACK THEN! It's obvious—he missed you, dude!”

Ness felt his heart lurch forward for a moment as his body filled with some sort of hope that Claus really does still want him around. Not  _ want  _ him, but still wanted to be his friend. Knowing so would repair the hatted one’s doubts.

By now, Ninten was just stomping around going on his own rant. “He always insults me… Why, you ask? BECAUSE I KINDA LOOKED LIKE YOU! I went all out tonight just to get my insults back at him!”

After those words, Ness just smiled at the boy. “Yeah, that sounds a lot like him.” He couldn’t help but chuckle at that. The sight of a relieved Ness was enough for Ninten to stop in the middle of his rant. Currently, Ness just stared off into the twin’s backyard, his mouth parted slightly, showing his white teeth in a perfect half-smile by just thinking about how Claus possibly missed him just as much as he missed Claus when they were apart.

Ninten rolled his eyes playfully at the daydreaming boy and just walked passed him and towards the glass door. “Get off Cloud 9, Ness.” He chuckled, then went back into the house. “I’ll talk with you later, so let’s just go back in for now.” The sound of the sliding door snapped Ness from his daydream as he whipped himself around and traveled inside, himself.


	8. Goodnight

The two boys entered back into the twins’ house only to be greeted with an empty kitchen table. Instead, the other three boys were hanging around the stove, cooking, but not really cooking. It looked as if 1 robot was cooking and the three boys were just watching it. The boys on the inside heard them come in and their attention switched to them for a spare moment.

“Finally,” Jeff said, “I brought something new over so we don’t need to eat frozen food again!”

By this, Ninten and Ness could easily tell that the Truth or Dare game was over. However, it was a huge weight off their shoulders. They casually put themselves into the group once again and focused on the little flying robot with long suspendable metal rod arms that could pick and put things down. 

“ _Woah_.” Ninten and Ness were filled to the brim with interest.

Jeff crossed his arms and smiled smugly. “It’ll cook food for us on its own, I’ve downloaded a bunch of cookbooks into its artificial intelligence database. All we have to do is type in the ingredients we have and it’ll make it the choice of foods that we want.”

“Does its mouth vibrate, too?” asked Ness. Jeff nudged the boy hard on the side, earning a laugh from Claus.

“I said the same thing, haha!” Claus commented impulsively, then shrunk into his own corner afterwards. He didn’t say much afterwards and tried to avoid standing next to his best friend, let alone, look at him. The orange haired boy could tell the hatted one noticed, but brushed it off. He wondered what him and Ninten talked about, but he didn’t want to ask now. Maybe later.

"I really do hate you guys. I'm starting to think you guys won't ever let that go." Jeff narrowed his eyes, then put his attention back to his robot. 

It was quick, quicker than a chef inside Hell's Kitchen. The tiny robotic figure hovered around on small, powerful turbines, and it seemed to have a good idea on not flying into walls or people as it reached over to put the ingredients where they needed to go. The boys watched closely as its long and thin metal arm rods picked and chose from different spices. Although it was small and the arms looked feeble, it could carry things no one would expect it to. That was exactly what it was doing, and the boys often times would 'Ooooo' at the contraption. 

"What's it making?" Lucas asked. 

"Uh." Jeff adjusted his angle to see what was on the pan. "Whatever you guys usually have ingredients for? I dunno, I put it on auto mode." He laughed nervously. 

"I think I have a good idea." Claus sniffed the air about him as he looked down at the jumbles of eggs on the pan. “The yellow, the smell, the _GENIUS_ … omelettes…” he said the last part quietly. 

“I never had an omelette before, sounds cool.” Ninten smiled. That earned a small gasp from the twins.

“Well, you’ll love it,” Claus reassured, “if you don’t then you’re not much of a human.”

 _Beep beep!_ _Whirrr…_

A button on the robot’s chest flashed brightly with a green color. Jeff’s attention sparked up once again and said, “It’s done!” Though, it was self-explanatory by looking at the huge omelette piece on the big pan. The blond and orange haired twins stared at it in wonder. Any omelette maker was a good friend of theirs. From there, Jeff took the robot and turned it off in his hand, which made it collapse into a portable cube that he stuck in his green slacks.

“Yay!” Lucas jumped up giddily. “I’ll cut it! You guys can just sit at the table." He volunteered to do the serving. The rest of the boys nodded, feeling their appetite rising all of a sudden. They went back to their former seats on the kitchen table, except for Claus, who got out 5 plates for Lucas to break the omelette into. The blond did so with a single fork, cutting out equal shaped pieces for everyone while Claus got out extra forks for the rest to eat with. After that was done, they brought all the plates and forks to the table and laid out each plate to every boy, including themselves.

Jeff instinctively put his hands together, “Alright, everyone say their prayers-”

“ _MMMHHHHH!_ ” Claus groaned after sticking a piece of omelette in his mouth. He froze, noticing everyone’s attention was on him. “Oh, oops.” He dropped his fork, closed his eyes, then put his hands together as if nothing happened; the rest couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“...Okay, _now_ everyone say their prayers,” Jeff said, laughing slightly. Everyone copied Claus’ pose, smiles on their faces, as Jeff said the whole mumbo-jumbo that his family would usually say before eating dinner. “...Amen.”

From there, they all began eating, chatting lightly, but were moreover consumed in their dinner. They didn’t reflect back on the Truth or Dare game, which Ninten and Ness obviously noticed. Jeff, Claus, and Lucas already decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea, considering how tense it made the situation on the genius’ last dare. Jeff felt sorry about that, but didn’t want to apologize; he didn’t feel the need to. Instead, the boys ate, talking about anything but, such as school, other friends, feats, and complaints that would let one of them rant while the others would smile and chuckle at it. Some strong subjects involved grades, Claus’ skipping, and Ness’ absences that Claus forgot to tell Jeff and Lucas about, which came off as a surprise to the two.

“You were gone for two weeks?!” Jeff was in awe. “Your grades must’ve plummeted from that!” 

“I’m fine, I got excused for the whole two weeks, and had Ninten bring me all the assignments I missed. I learned from them and hopefully I won’t be crap on Monday when the teachers start talking.” Ness gave the genius a thumbs up, signalling his ‘okay’ situation.

“Meanwhile Claus kept skipping multiple periods over and over again,” Jeff pointed out jokingly at the orange haired one. Claus replied to that by flicking his plastic fork across the table straight into his face. “...Hey! I’m just sayin’!” 

Claus didn’t say anything rowdy back, for he wanted to stay out of the topic, but he seemed to be dwelling upon it regardless. The guilt still ate him up, and finding out that Ninten was the one to bring Ness his missing assignments made him a bit angry at himself; he thought Ninten was an overall douche, but apparently not to Ness. He almost felt that the scarfed boy was being a better friend than he was to the boy that was _his_ best friend. He wanted to let time steamroll his feelings, and that’s why he didn’t want to join the conversation at all.

“Eugh, midterms. Then 1st semester finals.” Ninten, who was done eating, let his face drop down to the table. “I just love how they make midterms for us and then put finals almost right after them. _Mid_ terms, my ass.”

“I’m not really that worried,” said Jeff calmly. Everyone other than Lucas, narrowed their eyes at him.

“ _You don’t say?_ ” Ninten bent his head towards the genius in such a sarcastic way and gave him a look of obviousness. “You’re a walking textbook, dammit!”

Jeff sputtered into laughter. He just loved it when his friends complained about school tests and grades, while he, himself, didn’t have to. It was funny to him.

Lucas shrugged. “I mean, I’m not that worried, either!”

“You’re smart, too, Lucas,” Ninten said bluntly, taking the words right out of Claus’ mind. Lucas turned a bit pink and half-smiled, then looked back down at his empty plate. That right there told Ninten that the boy said, ‘thank you’ in Lucas language.

In terms of school, Jeff and Lucas were practically overachieving nerds. Ness wasn’t one, but he took hard classes and kept his grades both A’s and B’s for the sake of sports; and in the worst case possible, he maintained a good ability of pulling good grades out of his ass. However, his absences made him have a hint of doubt in himself when he would come back to teachers giving him packet reviews. As for Ninten and Claus, they were in the same boat; they didn’t like school and they didn’t do quite well either, except Ninten would try then fail, while Claus wouldn’t try at all. Sometimes Claus would get jealous of Ness or Lucas, but would fight it off considering his lazy spirit won’t let him pick up his pencil to write things down.

“Who wants to skip the test days with me?” Ninten raised his hand in defeat.

“I hate you, but,” Claus rose his hand as well. He couldn’t help but say something there.

“You guys!” Ness yelled, “Don’t do that, it’ll just make it worse. Just study up a little and it’ll be fine!”

“I was just kidding~” Ninten said, sticking out a tongue.

“Oh, you _were_? Because I was being completely serious,” the orange haired boy replied. The rest laughed, thinking that that was a joke, itself. However, Ness already knew Claus held the ability to do risky things and would actually do them no matter how ridiculous. He remembered a time in middle school when he took pictures of the final exams for math that their teacher had left on the desk that day when the teacher went to warm up his lunch; he did it in front of all the other students, too. He didn’t get caught or tattled on and scored a high A, making him pass with a B. Ness didn’t think Claus would be able to pull something off like that anymore.

The conversation continued without Ness forewarning Claus, even though he really wanted to. While they talked, Lucas asked everyone to stack their plates and give it to him so he could put it in the sink. They did, and then afterwards found themselves meeting up back in the living room. They decided to waste more time on the Wii U, play a few board games, then watch a funny movie to end it altogether.

By the time they were done, it was late at night, almost hitting 1 a.m. The movie drove them to drowsiness, and the boys found themselves lying lazily on the couch they were on.

“I’m tired…” Lucas stretched out. Claus yawned right next to him.

“Me too,” Ninten agreed. 

“Let’s go to sleep now,” Ness finally decides for everyone. Jeff was capable of doing all-nighters, but he decided to agree with the majority vote.

“Where do we sleep?” asked the scarfed boy, this being his first time here.

“We usually sleep in our own rooms: Jeff usually sleeps in mine and Ness sleeps in Claus’,” Lucas answered, “but we got you now, so…”

“Oh, I see.” Ninten nodded with consideration. “I’m cool sleeping down here on the couches.”

“B-But you’ll be here all alone! In the dark!” Lucas warned. Ninten just chuckled at his reaction.

“I GOT THIS. I’ve trained in the arts of battling monsters in my sleep,” Ninten said with serious confidence. He then proceeded to pick up his bag that he brought here, and pulled out his teddy bear from it. “Plus, I got Cuddles here with me, and he’s trained with the U.S. Navy SEALs.”

Lucas put a hand to his mouth and giggled at his silliness. “I got one, too, except that he's a fluffy dinosaur named Rawrie.” He grinned. They then went off on their own tangent with Jeff adding in that he has his own stuffed robot as well, called ‘Boomer.’

Meanwhile, Ness turned to Claus. He was too nervous to ask his question, but prepared himself for rejection regardless. He tapped the orange haired boy on the shoulder, catching his attention.

“Hey.” Pause, breath. “.. Are you okay with me sleeping in your room for tonight?” he asked directly. His stare was blank, an unreadable look that Claus couldn’t decipher. 

Claus was struck by surprise at his directness, and displayed an expression that looked both annoyed and angry; one that was too familiar to Ness. The hatted boy shuffled his feet uncomfortably then decided for himself. “...I’ll just sleep down here with Ninten, then.” He disguised his disappointment, and turned his back to Claus to join the other boys’ group conversation, however, Claus replied.

The twin impulsively poked Ness on the shoulder to stop him from going away. "Wait. You-” he began, but forgot what he was saying. All he knew was that it made him angry at the possibility that Ninten would provide as a better friend for him. He didn’t want that to happen, and taking this one step of keeping them away from each other, Claus thought, would be the best choice. Unfortunately, he could never tell Ness that, especially when he couldn’t even tell him directly that it was okay for him to sleep in his room for the night. 

This annoyed Claus to no end that a part of him was comfortable with Ness, but the other part is so defensive and wanted to treat his best friend like a stranger. His emotions collided the whole night, like oil trying to mix in with water. Ness could only tilt his head at his silent friend and read through his facial expressions that Claus never bothered to hide.

“Did you want to tell me something?” Ness asked with a tinge of hope.

 _Please sleep in my room instead of next to that douchebag,_ Claus thought, looking at Ness. Yet, nothing came out. Ness puffed up one of his cheeks as his somber expression turned a bit more brighter; he knew Claus would probably rethink his question, which he did. 

 _Goddammit, just say it, Claus!_ the orange haired boy motivated himself.

Claus sighed stressfully. “It’s _o-okay_ if you sleep in my room.” He disconnected his eyes from Ness’ violet ones. “It’s tradition, anyway, get your stuff and hurry your ass up, I’m sleepy.” Then he began heading up the stairs. What he was unable to see from that point was the small smile Ness made as he headed up the stairs. 

Lucas, Ninten, and Jeff saw them, but didn’t say anything. Ninten smirked at the two, and _died_ to say, ‘Remember to use protection,’ but had a feeling Ness wouldn’t just yell at him this time, but in fact, _kill_ him, so he didn’t say anything at all.

Once at the top, the two boys did what they usually did before even going into the room: enter the bathroom to brush their teeth. Ness slung his backpack to the front of Claus’ bedroom door and joined Claus’ side by the bathroom sink. Claus gave some space to the slightly taller boy, and began to pick up his toothbrush, put some toothpaste onto it, and proceeded to brushing. Ness followed suit himself just a few seconds after. 

…

All of a sudden, Claus began to giggle, brush still in his mouth, right next to Ness. His friend stared at him weirdly, until he noticed that he brushed so hard and prominently that the paste foamed over and dripped down his chin. Ness’ eyes widened as he clumsily put his mouth over the sink to not spill it over.

“Oopsh,” Ness said with foam, making Claus snicker even more. He took this moment to wash out his mouth, then dry it. He looked back over at Claus who followed up right after him, a smile on his face. However, Claus’ smile went away after trailing back to his room. He picked up the bag Ness left in front of his door and brought it inside himself. From there, he sat down on the edge of his bed and looked over at Ness. Claus wasn’t as much sleepy anymore.

Ness averted himself from Claus’ gaze and tried to look somewhere else, completely put off by this situation; he hasn’t been alone with the boy for a really long time, and he felt completely tense. He wanted to sleep ASAP.

“I’m going to change into my PJ’s,” said Ness, unzipping his backpack to the far side of Claus’ room. He productively swung off his hat, revealing his messy black hair. After picking up his pajama bundle, he laid it on Claus’ computer desk and proceeded to take off his shirt.

Caught completely off guard, Claus thought he was just going to do it in the bathroom. “Wai- change in the bathroom!”

Ness flinched, and immediately replied with a question, “Don’t I always change here, though?” the no longer hatted boy soon felt fear rising up from the pit of his stomach after letting the question slide out of his mouth. During the whole time of the sleepover, he has realized only now that he went out of his way many times just to preserve this friendship and not weird Claus out. He thought that after their make up yesterday, everything would just go back to normal, but his friend won’t let that happen, and now it’s starting to bother Ness, himself. He knew exactly where this conversation was leading. 

Despite Ness' thoughts, Claus couldn't tell how on edge he was putting Ness. He just knew that at this moment in time, he was a little pissed at Ness for not doing as he said. For as long as Claus could control Ness, he would feel safe, and Ness realized that as well. However, Ness wasn’t too fond of that because it’d change many things between them.

“Well-” Claus paused. “You’re making me feel uncomfortable.”

Ness wanted to test this boy. “Why do I make you feel uncomfortable?” he asked, unamused and passive aggressively.

Claus answered indirectly, “Remember what I said yesterday!”

“What does that have to do with now?”

Claus’ eyebrow twitched at his shirtless friend. Not to mention, the raven-haired boy was still in his red boxers from failing to do his first dare. Though, he still didn’t say anything.

Ness continued for him, “Dude, I don’t really see the problem.” He gestured to his whole body. “My shirt is already off and I’ve _been_ in my boxers.”

All Claus did was sigh, still looking intensely into Ness’ eyes as he remained sitting upon his bed. He didn’t know what to say, nor what to understand, but it was all answered by Ness’ next sentence.

“I’m not going to jump you, I’m not going to touch you, I’m not going to _do_ anything.” Ness held out his arms harmlessly. Then, he began to pick up his pajama pants, unfold it, then slip it on. He didn’t want to miss any of Claus’ reactions, so he kept his gaze on him as he did so.

Silently, Claus replied, “...How would I know…” He looked down at his orange denim shorts indecisively. Ness rolled his eyes.

“You’d only say that if you really didn’t trust me.” Ness stopped midway through dressing right after he put his pajama pants on, and approached the orange haired boy. Claus jumped at his sudden action and backed away further onto his bed, away from the edge of it to create more space between them. This made the raven-haired boy click his tongue and shake his head disappointingly. “...Are you _that_ scared of me?” 

Claus whimpered internally with his back against his bed frame. It was that voice again, the sadistic voice Ness held when he got impatient or angry. He never uses it, ever, and Claus was familiarized with the voice only two times before; the times when he did those inappropriate things to him.

The orange haired boy, afraid of what Ness was going to do next, growled. His feelings of fear always came out as anger. “Go away!” he shouted, but not too loudly to disrupt his friends in the house.

“Calm the fuck down!” Ness shouted back in the same dynamic, forcing his voice to turn calmer. He groaned out of frustration. “You said things would go back to normal!”

“It did! But I also made conditions for you!” Claus argued back.

“I was changing in front of you, how the hell does that go past the conditions?!”

“Because I don’t like it!”

“Then, what the fuck?” Ness face palmed. “Is that how conditions are set? I can’t do anything that you don’t like, even when it applies to nothing _gay_?”

“Ugh, fucking dammit!” Claus said upsettingly; he knew he was wrong. 

Ness only wanted to add fuel to the fire at this point, “You’re fucked up for getting my hopes up yesterday. I can’t even do the things that were normal between us before; such as changing right in front of you.”

“Then why don’t you just leave me?” Claus angrily said. Ness’ anger instantly turned somber at the suggestion. 

“Don’t be a douche, you know why,” Ness concluded, hurt.

“W-Well, get over it already,” the orange haired boy demanded shakily. He could not handle Ness' feelings for him.

“It’s been ONE day, give me the time I need.” Ness looked down, now completely saddened.

A long silence followed right after that, to which both boys gave up their positions in the argument. Ness forlornly turned around to put on the last piece of pajamas on: his shirt. Without another word, he unpacked his sleeping bag from his backpack and laid it out into its full rectangular form. It was blue on the outside, with a blue and white plaid design on the inside. He did the work to set it parallel to Claus’ bed, but the farthest away it could be possible. He slipped inside, then buried his whole body within it; and to block out Claus completely, he sealed the deal by zipping himself up inside the bag.

Claus’ eyes narrowed at the boy, then he freely rolled them. In a fit, he also buried himself underneath his own thick blanket and flipped over to make his back face the other boy. Maybe he really should’ve let Ness sleep downstairs with Ninten. If they could get into this serious of a fight over Ness just changing into his pajamas, then there was no doubt Ninten could replace Claus as Ness' new best friend in a heartbeat. He couldn’t help but struggle over these thoughts; and these thoughts would be the curse that wouldn’t let him sleep for the night.

…

10 minutes would pass, then 15, then up to a long 30. The wall clock ticked over and over, and it seemed as if it became more audible as time passed. Claus just found himself beaten. He was depressed; he wasn’t mad anymore, especially when Ness had a point, and that Claus’ own part of the argument was just basically him still using fighting words when he was already wrong. Like an immature kid fighting to be right. Claus frowned heavily at the thought of it. He only now realized he's not being fair to Ness.

It seemed like a running gag, but Claus had his own dinosaur-like plushie like Lucas did, too. He hugged it tightly in his arms for the night to release his own tension on the object. He started to remember his mother taking him and Lucas to a toy store when they were little, and, as if it amused his mother to do it, she bought them identical dinosaur plushies that matched their hair color. That was when Lucas sillily named his dinosaur Rawrie. Claus’ naming process came along the same way, except his name for his dinosaur was ‘Chompers.’

_Sniffle… sniffle…_

The sudden noise took Claus by surprise, but he remained as quiet as a shadow as he turned over in his bed, Chompers still in his embrace. There was only one way to look to, and that was towards Ness’ sleeping bag. His friend’s outline on the sleeping bag hasn’t moved since the last time he saw it.

 _Sniff_.

Claus saw the boy shuffle a bit, only bothering to turn his head beneath the sleeping bag. He could tell he was trying to be quiet; and by now Claus supposed that Ness thought he was asleep. But he wasn’t.

Moments after the sniffles Ness started to breathe heavily and was audible enough for Claus to hear. The orange haired boy knew he was crying, and responded to that by rolling over once again to face his back to the raven-haired boy. He didn’t want to do anything about him, he just wanted to let him cry. However, the guilt ate him alive. He was already aware that Ness was a sensitive momma’s boy behind closed doors, but he was completely tough and well-rounded when he wasn’t so _hurt_. Claus hurt him, and he knew it himself. He never loved someone, but he could only imagine it to hurt if in the end it didn't work out, and you had to be constantly reminded of it because that certain person was your best friend. 

 _Goddammit,_ thought Claus, as he rolled over to face the raven-haired boy yet again. Slowly and silently, he slipped out of his blanket and off of his bed as he held Chompers by one of its stubby legs. His soft padded thuds hit the ground as he trailed across his room to his computer desk, where a box of tissues were kept. Quite frankly the orange haired boy never used these, well, not for tears that is. He quickly turned in the opposite direction, then sat on his knees right next to his friend’s sleeping bag.

“Hey,” Claus cooed remorsefully. Without permission, he unzipped Ness’ sleeping bag open and, to no surprise, found his friend holding his hands to his face, concealing the amount of tears he let out. Ness was slightly shocked from Claus’ presence, but he didn’t acknowledge it any further and just buried his face into the sleeping bag.

“Stop. Crying.” Claus sighed, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Nn…” Ness sounded. His eyes finally opened as he turned his head weakly to his best friend.

“Here.” The boy showed him the box of tissues he held. Ness carefully nodded, looking a little happy, yet, not smiling so much. He yanked a few tissues out of the box, wiped his eyes, and then blew his nose. Claus waited patiently for him to finish. Afterwards, Ness just threw the used bundle of tissues into Claus’ bedroom trash can that was near him. 

“...Thank you,” Ness said. In all honesty, Claus felt a bit more better doing this than ignoring the boy as a whole.

However, after a few seconds, more tears started to flow out of Ness’ eyes. Claus was taken aback, he didn’t know why he was crying, and that surprised him.

“W-What the- what’s wrong?” was all Claus could think of asking. His grip got tighter on Chomper’s body.

“Do I r-really have to stop loving you?” Ness asked through small tears. There was no way Claus could ever feel the intensity of sadness Ness was experiencing at the moment. Nor did he realize what power he held to bring Ness to such a weak point.

“I don’t know…” Claus said indecisively; he didn’t want to make Ness cry even more. “It’s- just better that way, okay? I won’t rush you, now.” He took into account that Ness needed more time to recuperate his feelings. “Why do you even- ...like me in the first place?”

“Y-You’re my best friend,” the words came out so innocently, "You helped me out and before I knew it, I grew up with you. You may not be a girl, but I don't care about that. You're just so perfect.”

A pink tint appeared on Claus’ cheeks. The boy forced his eyes shut momentarily in embarrassment and blamed himself for asking the question in the first place. He opened his eyes a while after, suggesting, “Look, I love you, too, but as a _best_ _friend_. Don’t you think that maybe you’ve gotten your emotions mixed? That it might just be a phase that you’re going through? You don’t actually love me, but just care a lot about me.”

Ness looked at Claus directly in the eyes now. “I don’t think it’s a phase. The feelings I have… feel so real,” he said it so surely. That made the orange haired boy become even redder. Luckily, the dark night concealed him. Now, Ness sat up with his legs still within the sleeping bag. He wasn’t crying as much anymore.

“Knowing that…” Ness trailed off, serious. “Do you still want to be friends with me?”

“...”

 _It’s like we’re breaking up_ , thought Claus, _it doesn’t make sense, but it hurts._

“I don’t care what you choose anymore, Claus. I think I’ll be fine as long as I get at least a ‘goodbye’ from you,” Ness considered, “not like how the past few weeks has been.”

“I get it,” Claus said with uncertainty. He was pretty sure he wanted Ness to stick around regardless of everything that happened. “I still wanna be friends…”

Ness’ eyes brightened a bit, but how his hair messily layered over his eyes at the moment didn’t do much to show Claus. “...Really?”

“I don’t want a new best friend, okay?” Claus groaned aloud. “Everyone sucks, especially Ninten, and Jeff and Lucas already formed a ‘nerd herd’ friendship. People like you don’t come around on a regular basis, dammit.”

That made Ness chuckle a little, turning the conversation into a more casual and less serious one. “Okay, cool. So it’s settled.”

“What’s settled?”

“Well, I just thought that you didn’t want me around, and I wanted to make sure, especially since we get into arguments more often.” 

“Oh,” Claus said plainly. He thought for a little bit then just decided to end it, saying, “Well, if that’s all you needed, I’m going back to sleep.” He got up and headed for the bed as Ness shifted back into his bag. However, Claus stopped, feeling a bit more generous this night. He went back to Ness, and offered him Chompers.

“Um?” Ness raised a brow at Claus who was holding out his dinosaur to him.

“You’re a pussy so take this and keep it.” Claus didn’t wait for Ness to take the plushie and instead shoved it snugly next to his friend in the sleeping bag. Ness laughed once more with a big smile on his face.

“Gee, you’re so nice,” there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “...Thanks,” he told Claus genuinely. Ness wrapped his arms around the little dino in his sleeping bag.

“Yeah,” Claus replied. He observed a happier Ness in front of him and that made him feel glad. “Now let’s get some sleep. Night, Ness.”

“G’night, Claus.”

Afterwards, Claus quickly headed back to his bed and flipped his blanket once over. He resumed facing his back to the boy, and refused to look back with what redness he felt was on his face at the moment. 

 _I’ve offered my dinosaur as sacrifice_ , Claus thought to himself, _I hope he's happy._


	9. I'm Actually Straight

Before he knew it, Claus was sitting, and not in a comfortable chair to be exact. His head leaned against his propped up arm. The classroom was dim with only one light as the projector showed a video on Shakespeare. What seemed to be happening, according to Claus’ point of view, is that sometimes the film had bright lights, and then sometimes less brighter ones. Content of the film was of no concern to the boy.

“After we are finished with these videos, I will discuss rhyme schemes and rhythm…” the teacher went on forever on what they were doing today. It all slipped past the boy’s mind, though, his face looked convincingly enough to tell a person, ‘yeah I’m kind of listening to you.’

What had happened so far for the rest of the sleepover was that the following morning (yesterday), all of them left around early afternoon. He remembered having intense UNO games, playing more Mario Kart 8, and just chilling out with them. To Claus, Ninten was less annoying the next morning due to his sleepiness; which was the first time he found Ninten actually pleasing to have around. Lucas and Jeff did their nerd thing. Then as for Ness, he seemed fine to Claus, almost content. Claus didn’t expect Ness to be so normal the next day even though they had such a pointless argument the night before.

“Claus, could you tell me the letter of the rhyme scheme for the third line of this poem?” the teacher asked suddenly.

Claus ended his train of thoughts and straightened up to attention. He had no idea what the teacher has been talking about during the whole period so far. “U-Uh…” The class seemed to be focused on him.

“It’s easy,” said the teacher, waiting patiently, “don’t pretend you don’t know, I know you’re smart.” She smiled knowingly. 

If anything, Claus could slip out from embarrassing situations like this by saying something  funny. “...When in doubt, choose C,” he concluded. It earned small laughs, considering that the answer was right to begin with, and no one really knew if Claus didn’t know it or not.

“Correct!” said the teacher, writing in the letter next to the line of the poem she copied onto the board. Afterwards, she continued lecturing the class. 

Claus thought, _Wow. I have mad guessing skills_. He smiled smugly for the rest of the period as he continued to drift off in his thoughts like usual.

...

_Ring!_

The first period bell carried along a sustained digital ring to it, whereas Claus responded with glee to know that first period was long gone and over with for the day. However, it didn’t make him feel any better that he had found 2nd period just as boring as the first. He stomped into his Latin classroom, unmotivated, and was blessed with a seating chart that sat him in the back away from all the noisy, annoying people out in front. He had friends he talked to in this class with which he would exchange quiet, immature comments about whatever topic they were on. All the teacher did was go over a review packet for midterms then gave a study guide to the students, which Claus took detestably. Afterwards, class ended again for this period, too. 

Claus stretched out his arms and legs before getting out of his seat. Then he began exiting the room through the crowd of kids that were just as excited to get out as he. He yawned, completely unamused with what the day has offered him this far: study guides and boring lectures.

However, now it's third period. Physical Education. The big P.E. Claus shuddered. This was one of the classes he kept skipping, so he hoped the teacher, or rather, any of his teachers today wouldn't point out how long he has been gone even though he got 'excused' absences for those certain periods. Claus had his ways and connections. This specific way included being a student aide momentarily. For what? Don't know.

He trailed down the hallway he hasn't been in for a while towards the boys' locker room. He entered in, letting the smell of cologne from previous periods waft into his nasal cavity. Next, he walked down a row of lockers and then found his, which he chose next to Ness'. It wasn't a surprise that his hatted friend was already there, dressed in the school's gym shorts and shirt. Ness was always quick to walk to this period; his last class was very close.

"Hey," greeted Claus, automatically turning to his locker and spinning it. No reply.

_Tic tic tic…_

Ness was currently sitting on one of the locker benches, looking down at his phone with intense focus. His fingers hit the keyboard very quickly that so many ‘tic’ noises kept emerging from the device. Claus noticed this and began changing, not wanting to disrupt him until after he was done putting on his own gym clothes. Even with Claus changing in front of Ness’ very own eyes, the raven haired boy still didn’t notice.

When Claus was finished changing and packing away his backpack and school clothes in the locker, he shut it closed and shuffled the combination lock. He then turned to Ness and took a seat right next to him, hoping that his presence could more easily be sensed that way. 

Ness still didn’t look at him, in fact, he just giggled at the sight of what was on his phone. Claus groaned slightly, getting a bit pissed. How could Ness still not notice?!

“ _NESS!_ ” Claus took Ness’ hat off and then gently hit him on the shoulder with it.

“W-What?!” Ness seemed to snap out of it, locking his phone quickly then putting it to the side. He fumbled with Claus’ indirect handling of his hat, but managed to get it back on his head in the end. 

“How do you _not_ hear me or see me when I walked in?” Claus argued, “Damn, pay more attention.”

“S-Sorry…” Ness laughed nervously, putting a hand on the back of his head. 

“What were you doing, anyways?” Claus still kept a consistent unpleasant tone.

“Texting uh...” Ness looked contemplative on whether or not he should say it, but he does. “Texting Paula.”

Claus grimaced at the name. It just didn’t flow off the tongue right. “And who’s that?” 

“Er-” Ness looked one way, then back at Claus, “remember that one blonde girl the other day at school?”

“Lucas?” 

Ness bursted into laughter, making Claus smile as well. “Ahaha! No!” He laughs some more. “The one that said ‘Hi’ to me when I went to come pick you up late after school.”

Claus searched his brain of files that would make him remember. He stroked his chin, then got the idea. “Oh, _her_?” Claus sounded judgemental.

“Yeah.” Ness nodded.

“What’ve you been talking to her about?”

Ness made a little shy smile. 

Claus nudged Ness, hard. “HOLD UP.” Claus popped up from the bench and stood right in front of the hatted boy. “IS SHE- ARE YOU- …” He squinted his eyes at Ness. “... _Talkin’ the duties?”_

“H-Hey! I’m not that fast!” Ness made just a slight smug smile.

“BOYS!” the coach yelled from his office into the locker room. It echoed heavily. “Time to head to the field! You’ve got the mile today!”

After the coach said that, nearly all of the boys groaned, including Claus. The orange haired boy slouched his body down lazily as he did so. 

“C’mon, let’s go,” said Ness as he got up and made his way out of the locker room. Claus followed suit and began walking next to his friend after catching up to him. Before they knew it, they were already out of the school and into the fresh breezy air of the outside. It was nearing winter and Claus loved the cold. As he enjoyed it, he wanted to ask more questions to his friend. Claus still felt unsure about the whole thing; two nights ago Ness just told the boy he loved him. Now what happened?

“Ness, dude.” Claus poked at Ness’ shoulder. That made the boy slow down a bit, and put his attention on Claus.

“Yeah?” 

“..When did this happen, and _how_?” Claus rose an eyebrow. Immediately, Ness knew what he was getting at.

“She texted me on the second day of the sleepover and we just started to talk a lot for some reason.” Even Ness looked surprised. He also happened to have brought along his phone that he tucked into his gym shorts pocket. Claus thought he was being a little obsessive, along with Paula; phones weren’t allowed _any_ time during school hours, only before school, after, and during lunch. “I don’t really know how… she just started to. I don’t even know how she got my phone number…” Ness scratched his head with one finger.

“ _Wow_ ,” was all Claus could manage. Hearing this just made him go back to the time her and her friends were chatting incessantly on the boy. It wasn’t technically a good memory, all it did was resonate her shrilly and excited voice in all corners of Claus’ head. Now all he had was the sound of her saying ‘Ness!’ repeating in his mind in Paula’s voice that he heard that day. The boy held his head as if to contain it before it exploded.

_Gllllllcccckkk aughughhga,_ Claus made a series of noises in his head randomly. Ness didn’t seem to notice the boy’s abnormal behavior. Currently, the boys were now waiting on the track right before the starting line for the coach to catch up.

“...” Claus stuck out his lips in deep thought. “I thought you.. uh…” 

“Thought what?” Ness tilted his head.

“Y-You know, swung for the same team,” Claus finished. He was referring to Ness being gay.

“ _Hold_ up.” Ness held a hand up, signalling ‘Stop.’ “I don’t swing for the same team, I only swung for Team Claus, here,” he corrected. Though it was a weird way to put it, Claus happened to chuckle at it rather than be a little disturbed. Ness was glad about that, and returned the smile.

Finally the coach made it, making every boy's lazy mind frustrated at what they were about to do.

“Get ready, boys. Time for the usual.” he announced, “As soon as I blow the whistle, the timer starts. Do the four laps around the track and I’ll record down your times and give you your grade based on the time.” He would say this every time, and every time he did Claus would translate his words as, ‘Fuck you. Now run.’

The coach put his mouth to the whistle, and blew hard into it. Immediately, boys sprinted off the line, some walked, some paced. Claus and Ness were the ones pacing together, however, the hatted boy’s pace was a bit faster, considering his higher levels of stamina compared to the other boy. Claus wasn’t completely weaker in his running compared to Ness, however. Overtime and after growing up together, they soon found out Claus’ sprinting was better, but Ness’ endurance was better. This is why Claus hated the mile. There was no way he could sprint it. Right after the second lap was when he’d begin to lag behind his hatted friend, who would ask, “Want me to slow down?” and Claus would reply with the same thing every time while holding his hand out to him, “Go on without me *fake coughs* fulfill your own destiny. I was a part of your past, but not your future. _Go_ , humble knight.” Ness nearly loses it every time. It never gets old even though he’s been using the lines since middle school.

Except now.

Ness didn't even ask if he should slow down to Claus' pace.

He was still on his damn phone, hypnotized. Brainwashed.

Claus thought Ness was doing something extremely ridiculous, and by that he means, Ness was doing something that wouldn’t usually _work_ in these types of situations. Currently, the hatted boy held his phone out, both hands on it texting, while managing to run and pass oncoming boys that he would lap. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but-

_Really, Ness?_ thought Claus, rolling his eyes. He didn’t think he would have the energy to do all these things at once.

“Dude, what are you guys even talking about?” asked Claus, panting just a little. Ness disregarded his words, _again_.

Claus narrowed his eyes, not letting Ness ignore him again. He clutched his hand onto Ness’ right shoulder, still running along with him.

“NESS!” Claus yelled again. It was relieving that Ness was digging a girl, and not him. It was relieving that he would not be the receiver of such weird emotions from Ness. However, he felt that this girl was bad news to him and Ness’ friendship.

_How is she even texting constantly in her class?! What is wrong with our school system?_ _If I were a teacher I would've taken their phones away by now!_ Claus was so frustrated that he was starting to think of hypotheticals.

Ness turned his head to Claus and looked at him for a split second, then back to the phone. “W-hat?” He was openly panting, now.

Claus just gave up on the question he was about to ask Ness, feeling that it would just fuel his need to keep replying the second Paula tosses him a text. 

“Put away the damn phone! The teacher will see it and take it away!” Claus warned, using it as both an excuse and actually caring about his friend. Ness looked concerned as both of them continued to run, both of their eyes now on the coach that they were about to pass. The coach rose an eyebrow at Ness, who was running while holding out his phone blatantly; him and Ness connected stares, with Ness pulling out a guilty smile. The majority of Claus wanted the coach to take away Ness’ phone, but the rest wanted Ness to keep it.

In the end, the coach just shook his head while chuckling at the hatted kid. They completed their second lap and Claus still had the energy to face palm.

_I can't believe the coach actually doesn't care._ Claus thought selfishly.

“It’s probably because we’re in front of everyone or something,” Ness answered, now zoning into the phone once again. Claus groaned, which Ness thought was a groan of tiredness. It technically was, but not at running this time. The orange haired boy seemed to have more energy in this mile run today that Ness didn’t even need to say his usual, ‘Want me to wait up?’ sentence. Moreover, Claus was pretty sure Ness wouldn’t notice if he lagged behind, anyway. He’s been on that phone since yesterday morning and now he’s on it today.

Claus was so irritated, he went into sprinting mode and passed Ness. It was the only moment Ness decided to look up from his phone, which genuinely surprised Claus.

Ness cupped a hand around his mouth. “Claus!” However, Claus didn’t look back, he didn’t want to.

_Fuck. You._ Claus just sprinted faster, lapping the rest of the third lap before Ness could even react fast enough.

Ness was astounded by his unusual speed that his jaw dropped momentarily. Though it only lasted as long as the next _ping!_ sounded from his phone. He switched his gaze to the phone yet again.

Claus just wanted to get the mile over with, now. He was angry, and utilized it to fuel his running. For this boy, anger literally fueled everything. After all those recent arguments and resolutions, Claus thought Ness was an ass for not even talking to him after everything. Ness was so fortunate to have gotten Claus back as a friend, and now he was easily pushed aside because of some _girl_ who gave Ness the attention he wanted from him, originally. This stressed Claus out, and what made it worse was the fact that he didn’t know what to do about it. All he did at the moment was sprint two laps no problem. Although, Claus almost collapsed after he stopped moving his legs.

“This was the first A you’ve gotten on the mile, nice job.” The coach smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

“I always had it in me, coach,” Claus said, not holding back the sarcasm. The young boy was sweating and was so out of breath that he had to slouch forward and hold himself up by propping his arms against his thighs. His anger cooled as exhaustion took over for it instead. He felt like fainting. Though his recovery was assured before Ness would arrive; the hatted boy was just finishing his third lap around. He spared a moment to look at Claus curiously, and when his emerald eyes connected with his, Ness gave him an innocent smile. It basically told Claus that he has _no idea_ how pissed off he was.

Claus managed to stay standing and leaned against the fence surrounding the track field. His breaths calmed down and he became collected by the endorphins he activated via exercise. He crossed his arms and waited patiently for his friend. Soon enough, Ness did arrive, and out of breath, too.

“You cleared that so fast, woah…” Ness took a breather. “That’s new.”

If it wasn’t because of Ness, he probably would’ve never covered the mile that fast ever. Despite that, Claus basked in his pointless victory. Though, he wouldn’t prefer to beat Ness at the mile every time just to get his attention. 

Claus didn’t feel like replying, so he only acknowledged Ness’ compliment with a small nod. From that, Ness smiled then switched back to his phone again.

Claus gave up from there and waited next to his hatted friend for everyone else to finish. He tapped his foot impatiently, looking to and from Ness. Once every boy was done, the coach lined them up in rows and called out stretch exercises. Once that was over, everyone returned to the locker room, got dressed, then chatted inside the room until the bell rang. Although, Claus didn’t say much; all he could do was watch Ness’ amused face as he looked down at the light of his phone. It was then and there Claus felt stupidly replaced by, not a girl, but a portable device. And Ness didn’t even notice it at all.

Soon, the bell rang. Claus got up from the locker room bench, slung his orange backpack over his shoulders, then walked out without even saying goodbye to his friend. Though Ness was distracted, he didn’t forget to say ‘See you in 5th,’ however, Claus was gone by then. 

4th period wasn’t bad in Claus’ opinion. It was Orchestra, the easiest A he could pull without even trying too hard. He was the single pianist of the whole orchestra that was usually filled with violins, violas, cellos, and basses. What made it easy was the fact that the piano was situated in the back of all the strings, away from the teacher. He found it a blessing to be able to lay his head down and sleep on the piano when the teacher does little lectures; it didn’t matter if he kept his head up because even when it is, the piano was still a bit too big for him to be seen. It was relaxing.

His 5th period, ceramics, would be where he would reunite with Ness once again. He wasn’t looking forward to it, though. He was probably still on his phone, and considering this is ceramics, it was easy to text and get by without being caught by such a lenient teacher.

“Hi Claus,” Ness greeted when his friend sat down next to him.

Claus rose both of his eyebrows. “Wow, you actually remembered to acknowledge me this time.”

Ness didn’t think it was a good thing to hear from his friend, but replied with a crooked, guilty smile. 

Again, ceramics was another easy class; Ness and Claus chose this class for that reason. Paid $60 to take the course and use materials, when both of them knew it was like paying $60 for an assured A. Arts was a required credit for them to graduate, and it was the best thing to choose. So why not? Literally all they had to do was create sculptures that didn’t even need to be good, and to receive the A grade, they must show ‘improvement’ over time. Could be a rock sculpture to a da Vinci type improvement, or a rock sculpture to an even more detailed rock sculpture. Either way, A.

“What’re you making this time?” asked Ness as he saw his friend pull out a rectangle of malleable clay.

Claus shrugged. “Eh, maybe a cup or something with polkadots. Sounds simple.” He kept his stare on the piece of clay he was cutting off.

Ness wasn’t on his phone much that period, though, he was still texting back with one hand while holding the phone just a little bit out of his shorts pocket when the teacher wasn’t looking.

“Cool,” replied the boy.

“What about you?” Now Claus looked at Ness, a little bit surprised he wasn’t all over his phone at the moment.

Ness chuckled at what he was about to say. “...A cup.” He held up a finger. “But with _stripes_.” This made Claus giggle at how his friend lacked an idea, and just copied his.

“How creative, I would’ve never came up with that one.” Claus half-smiled, then returned to his little project. Ness did too, but texted in between.

Their hands grew moist over time by repeatedly mushing and forming the clay into a cup-like structure. Their movements were amateur, determined, and persistent. In the end, they managed to make the portion where the drink would be able to go inside, minus the holder for the hand to slip into. 

Meanwhile, Claus thought through this process about Ness. He thought maybe he was overreacting too quickly over the fact of Ness getting a girlfriend soon, thinking that he’d be pushed to the side _too_ much. However, at the moment, things were well and Ness completely knew he was alive. Claus felt that in the end, he should be proud of his friend for scoring someone that’s not _him_. Although it was confusing, and unusually quick. Ness has been asked out plenty of times before, but denied them all. What’s so different about this time?

_She’s not hot, well, HOT hot,_ thought Claus. _She’s deniable. What does she have… a good personality maybe?_ But all he could remember was her shrill voice still. He couldn’t really see the personality part. To be fair, he didn't even know her.

“Hey, Claus,” Ness interrupted his friend’s thoughts. Claus turned to him in interest, bobbing his head to tell Ness he’s listening. Ness bit his lip a little, then asked, “Ever thought of getting a girlfriend?”

Claus was shocked at the question and never thought he would hear it from _him_ of all people. Yet, he replied, “Uh… not really.” He rose a brow.

_Vrrrr!_

The vibrate noise was heard slightly from the hatted boy’s phone.

“Oh- hold on one sec-” Ness turned his head downwards and replied to the text message from Paula as fast as he could. He then brought his attention back to Claus after locking his phone. “Um, why not?” asked the hatted one.

Claus responded by gesturing to his face. “First, look at my face. I don’t think I could swing a girl in my direction as easily as you could.”

“Is that it? If it is, then it’s a pretty easy fix… if it was a problem in the first place I mean…” Ness said the last sentence as silently and normal as he could. 

Claus embarrassingly pushed off that compliment to answer him. “Well…” Claus scratched the side of his cheek. “No girl ever told me she liked me, either. No opportunities, I guess.”

“What if you _did_ get an opportunity?” Ness emphasized, putting both of his hands together.

“What are you getting at, here?”

“Just answer the question.”

“Er, I dunno, maybe I’d go out with her,” Claus said, “but I’m not too experienced! I wouldn’t know what to do!”

Ness smiled. “Just be yourself.”

Claus sighed, knowing the blush he tried to hold in escaped. If Ness liked his girl so much, he’d appreciate if the boy would stem his compliments. However, Ness’ compliments weren’t on purpose, but moreover, something that he couldn't help but say.

“But why all these questions anyway?!” Claus wanted to know. If Ness had a girl to introduce to him, he’d rather not. If he didn’t want to keep up in his classes, he doubted he would be able to keep up a _girl._ They were such foreign objects in Claus’ mind.

_Do they even breathe?_ Claus thought humorously to himself, _And what does their diet consist of? Their boyfriend’s misery? Salad?_ Overtime, all he’s been caught up in that had to do with girls was some of his friends complaining about their girlfriends to him. They didn’t have a good impression in Claus’ mind.

“Well, no reason, to be honest.” Ness smiled nervously. The other boy narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“Whatever,” Claus concluded. Afterwards, he proceeded to put his unfinished clay cup into the class’ cupboard with Ness following suit. It was almost the end of the class, after all. From here would be lunch after, and they would soon see each other in Geometry. Unfortunately, the boys were sitting in different seats this year by the teacher who got mad at them a month ago.

Unusually, Ness and Claus didn’t really spend lunch together, only in serious cases when Claus or Ness had to copy each other’s homework that was worth more points than usual.

“See you later!” Ness waved his hand, excited to leave this class period. 

“See ya!” Claus waved back. He knew the boy would probably meet up with Paula, if they had the same lunch, that is. 

And so forth Claus slipped on his backpack and made his way through the crowded hallways of the school building. Luckily, the ceramics classroom was relatively close to the lunch room. Again, he began his hunt for the table Jeff has chosen through the flow of incoming students wanting to get their lunch quickly. When he saw them, he casually made his way over there and seated himself across from the smart boy. Jeff smiled when he saw him.

“Heylo!” Jeff grinned. “How was today?”

“It was good,” Claus half-lied. Now, Lucas made it to the table.

“Hiya Luke,” Claus waved lazily. 

His blond twin waved frugally to him with both hands. “Hey!” He smiled just like Jeff did. “How’d your day g-” 

He was about to ask the same thing Jeff did earlier, until Ninten showed up and made his entrance rather loud like always. 

“Heeeeey you guys!” Ninten plopped onto the seat next to Lucas, running his fingers through the blond boy’s hair in the process. That made a tinge of pink appear on Lucas’ cheeks as he was quick to fumble and fix his blond cowlicked hair, looking embarrassingly at the scarfed one. Ninten giggled at the sight.

Claus wanted to say, ‘Don’t touch my brother or that hand of yours will be gone by the end of lunch,’ however, he felt it was just a playful thing Ninten would do, so he let it off. “Hey, Ninten.”

“Whattup?” He grinned at Claus, happy to see him. He turned to the rest of the boys and said the question everyone usually does, “How was the school day for you guys?”

“Eh.” Lucas shrugged. 

“Eh…” Jeff followed suit.

“EH,” Claus mockingly copied the two boys. Though, ‘EH,’ was a good way to actually sum up his day.

And from there, all the boys, including Claus, talked off the time and basked in their silliness and often times pervertedness. Conversations never got too sexual for the sake of Lucas, but after Ninten was befriended that seemed to be all they talked about, and when digressing, it'd make its way back to it. Claus, Jeff, and Ninten found it funny, while Lucas kept looking shocked at the newfound knowledge. He didn't really know about 'furries' until today, and his mind flew to their dog, Boney. 

"There's plenty of websites that have them. I'm not particularly a fan of it, though," Ninten admitted, "but you guys _could_ say I'm practically an animal in bed." He smiled smugly as the other three chuckled along at his pride. 

"Have you ever even done it?"Jeff questioned. 

"WELL..." Ninten trailed off and looked away. "No," he said quietly, then rose his voice again, "but if I did, I'd be really good at it, I swear." He placed an arm around Lucas and purred into his ears playfully. "Right, Lucas~?"

"Um..." Lucas poked at his own cheek, confused. "Sure?"

For some odd reason, that suddenly reminded Claus of something. He was curious as to what Ness had talked to him about on the night of the sleepover. It made their Truth or Dare game abruptly end, causing Lucas and Jeff to solve their hunger pangs in result. He wasn’t necessarily upset about it, but he felt something went wrong between the two.

“Hey, Ninten?” Claus called out to the boy as he chewed on his cheeseburger. After he munched the pieces to bits and swallowed, he continued, “Can I talk to you over there about something?” He gestured the location behind him, which was near the wall that mostly had a window across it from their hip and up. It made it possible to see the outside of the school and other students who decided to eat their lunch outside, or walk and talk.

“Oh, sure!” He took his arm off of Lucas that he forgot he had left there. He relaxedly followed Claus to that spot, where he then said, “So whatcha need, Claus?”

Claus got right down to it. “I’ve been wondering, what did you and Ness talk about after the Truth or Dare game?”

Ninten gingerly approached the topic. “...Why do you wanna know?”

Already, Claus knew it was going to take a lot to get out of him. “I was just wondering…” He shyly kicked at the ground, something he inherited from his brother after seeing him do it a million times. “Could you tell me?” 

“I want to, but I don’t really think I _should_ ,” Ninten pointed out responsibly.

“C’mon, Ninten,” Claus used a nice sounding voice for once, “please?”

Ninten whined at that in reply. “I _wannnaaa_ but Ness singled me out for a reason…!” He bit his bottom lip, wanting to tell him.

Claus went as far as to put a friendly hand on the boy’s shoulder. He looked him in the eye sincerely, as he retained luminous emerald puppy eyes that were nearly as good as Lucas’ cerulean ones. Ninten felt tense. What seemed to trigger it off the most was when Claus perked out his bottom lip slightly, and tilted his head cutely.

“D-Don’t do me like this, Claus!!” Ninten growled lowly. He spaced away from the boy, sure that he would spill the beans if Claus looked at him like that any longer. “I will not say a word without Ness’ permission!” he concluded passionately, pointing at the ground.

By that, Claus broke out of his puppy phase and groaned. “Ugh! C’mon, I bet it wasn’t even that bad! It’s not like I don’t know anything in the first place!”

“I’m sorry! I may be obnoxious, but I’m loyal!” Ninten admitted. He watched as Claus threw his head back in failure. However, his stare switched off to something outside the window, over Claus’ shoulder. The sight seemed to make him drop his jaw in awe. Claus noticed this, and snapped a finger in front of his face.

“Earth to Ninten?” Claus kept snapping his finger. 

Ninten only pushed the boy’s hand out of his way, and pointed outside. “Claus, stop. Look!”

Claus turned his head with curiosity, trying to figure out what the boy was going on about. “What…?” His eyes shifted to and fro from the amount of students enjoying their lunch outside, until he finally saw it. 

“...Oh.” Claus felt his heart stop.

Ness and Paula were sitting next to one of the trees outside, on the grass. Paula had her arms wrapped around Ness’ right one, as the hatted boy chatted her day away. All she did was smile and laugh, and sometimes reply with words that would make the boy laugh as well.

Ninten’s expression softened. He had the look of genuine confusion. “What!? He has a GIRLFRIEND?!” he exclaimed.

“Uh... yeah.” Claus kept his gaze on the two. He was interested and wondered what they were talking about, seeing as they were having a really good time together. Ness nearly let her hold whatever part of him she wanted. Claus bit the inside of his cheek, wondering why. Why it was so hard to look at and take in. He knew he would probably meet up with her at lunch, too; this was bound to happen.

“I didn’t know this…” Ninten’s gaze was also on the couple. “I thought he liked you?!” He seemed freaked out. 

Claus tried his best to focus on Ninten’s words while also looking out the window. “He did… but I guess he’s over it, now,” he said it in an unintentionally sad way.

“Since when was this?”

“Did you not notice Ness constantly on his phone yesterday morning?” Claus asked. 

That seemed to ring a bell to Ninten. “Oh, yeah!” He paused, thinking. “He was texting in our Biology class, too! Wow, that was a pretty quick score...” he said figuratively with slight admiration. 

 “Well, at least I don’t need to worry, now,” Claus said nonchalantly. 

Ninten looked at Claus now, but Claus paid no mind as he was still staring sadly through the window.

The scarfed boy empathized. “...It doesn’t seem very right, though...” All he could manage to remember was Ness’ smile when he had told him how troubled Claus was when the hatted boy, himself, wasn’t around. That smile looked better than the one he was passing over to Paula, in Ninten’s opinion.

“How?” Claus replied, paying a bit more attention.

“I dunno, just a feeling.” Ninten shrugged even though Claus wouldn’t see it. He still looked at the orange haired boy, particularly at his reaction. His emerald eyes were very dull with the loss of sparks that could usually be seen in truly happy people. This made him want to know more past the boy’s questionable expression. “So, how have you been liking it?”

Claus looked down at his shoes contemplating, then over to Ninten. He grinned, then said, “Well, of course I’m happy for him! ...It’s good that he’s finally dating someone, and is off my back.”

The doubtful Ninten raised an eyebrow at him and asked, “Um, you _sure_ ‘bout that?” He didn’t technically believe what was in front of him.

“Yeah,” Claus assured.

Ninten sighed, still doubtful. He gave up on that topic, and decided to go back to a previous one. “Well, since the guy’s gotta girlfriend now, I guess that makes it alright to tell you what me and Ness talked about.” 

Claus was at full attention, his eyes more open than usual.

Ninten breathed in and out stressfully. “Long story short, Ness got mad at me for messing with his feelings about you. He was scared that you might break off the friendship permanently and I said that wouldn’t happen because of how frustrated you got around me every time at lunch. Which meant you weren't really over him yet."

Claus intervened, “I _wasn’t_ frustrated.”

“Uhuh yeah sure, anyways,” Ninten completely ignored the boy’s comment, “I said something like, oh, ‘why don’t you try swooning him and getting him to like you,’ and Ness said it was because you were straighter than a ruler, and _I_ wanted to say sometimes rulers had chipped edges that would make them curve a little, but Ness didn’t let me finish.” He said the last part in an annoyed way. He began talking more into detail without noticing; he didn’t expect to remember this much.

“Wow.” Claus rolled his eyes. “I _am_ straight. Did that not occur to you?” 

“I thought you’d be okay with either gender, like Lucas is,” Ninten admitted, not drawing an argument from the other boy by the way he said it.

“Oh.” Claus understood. “Well yeah, I’m straight.” Ninten nodded. “You can go ahead and keep talking, I keep interrupting.”

“That’s okay. Anyways…” Ninten searched further into his memories. “That… turned out to be basically it. Although in the end he was practically on Cloud 9 when we were done.” 

Claus looked confused, “Uh, _why_?”

Ninten already knew the answer, even though it wasn’t really voiced from Ness. “Because he was thinking of how much you missed him when he was gone. He was practically spaced out smiling to himself over it.”

“O-Oh.” Claus looked away, a hand scratching the back of his head from embarrassment. “That’s um… weird.”

Now, Ninten looked a bit concerned, or rather, offended for Ness. “How the heck is it weird? I’d be pretty happy if someone thought about _me_ like that.” He frowned at the orange haired boy, who didn’t really know how to react, other than look attacked. “He loves you, or rather, _‘loved’_ you.” He started to go back to his sarcastic tone of voice. “But all well~ you’re straight, anyways,” he said, full of hate.

...That seemed to throw off Claus in a bad way. He wasn’t expecting those kinds of words to come out from Ninten’s mouth; his expression was subjected to none other than shocked. In a way, Claus couldn’t argue, as his former guilts and troubles about the hatted one flowed back into his bones and stayed. He wasn’t happy, anymore. He felt like he lost something so... valuable. And he didn’t even notice.

_Ring!_

That was the bell.

“U-Uh…” Ninten started to regain his casual composure. “Sorry about that!” He laughed nervously. “That was just a little sensitive topic, dunno why though. Sorry if I sounded mean or anything.”

“...It’s… fine…” Claus said softly, his head being hung down, and a hand against the window pane.

Despite that Ninten had caused Claus trouble, he had to get to class. “I-I’m sorry again! See you later!” He gave the boy a pat on the shoulder, then raced off to catch up with Lucas and Jeff, who were already heading off to their next class. Meanwhile, Claus still remained in the same place. The bad feelings were eating him up, and drove motivation away from him; but regardless, he did the only thing he thought of to do at the moment. Look out the window again.

By the moment his emerald eyes crossed over the glare of the wide window, he saw it. There they stood, Paula’s lips gently placed upon Ness' cheek, who looked really happy to have received it.

Claus wasn’t angry. He wasn’t jealous, either. It all just felt like an eternal pit of sadness. He could only imagine how bad he had made Ness feel when he used to love him. And what bothered him the most was: 

How it only took that one girl to repair his best friend’s heart.


	10. The PRESSURE

_Must. Forget._

Teeth were clenched, and hands were moist from the help of room temperature air. The pencil scratched against the paper, leaving a trail of graphite along with the grits of it. The end result of tension and pressure was '3pi/4' which, in the back of the textbook, was the correct answer. That was the end of the math problem, and one of the few Claus had to get done before he'd be finished with math homework for the weekend. For once. And on his own. 

The papers of the book swished and flicked upon contact with the orange haired boy's hand. The lesson was here, but the rest of the practice problems were 3 pages away. A perilous adventure. It was hard to go back and forth quickly without bringing small rips to the pages. 

He clicked his mechanical pencil to eject more lead, and began working once again on the rest of the questions. 30, 60, 90. 1, 2, square root 3.

45, 45, 90. 1, 1, square root 2. Sine, Cosine, Tangent. Right triangles were stupid. 

However, he got the rest done with tense, working fingers and persistence. Something he hadn't felt for school in a while, or in specific, for math. There was a unit quiz last Thursday, and he nearly perfected the thing without cheating, earning a 'Wow, good job! Try keeping this up,' from his one and only Geometry teacher. He didn't realize until now that all of his questions were solved by reading the textbook. 

That is, because he actually _read_ the textbook. 

A few minutes, and he was done. Now where does life go on from here?

The orange haired boy closed his textbook and packed it into his bag along with his binder. All of his homework was done, and he couldn’t believe it. He was able to deter his thoughts long enough for the day, until it all came back to him. Ninten’s point last Monday still stuck with him.

_“But all well~ you’re straight, anyways.”_

Ninten was right. He was straight; but that didn’t make Ness and Paula’s relationship any less of a problem for him. For the remainder of the week, Ness was there, but wasn’t really _there_ with Claus, though the texting obsession did cool after a while, and only reduced to occasional text messages through classes. Ness was acting like everything was alright, in fact, better between the two. Claus personally thought the same, however, the fact that Ness had a girlfriend that was just as close as Claus was to his hatted friend bothered him so much. Was it alright to be this selfish over a best friend?

Claus held onto his head as he sat at his desk, wondering what more he could do other than sit in his room all day. Ness and him weren’t as close anymore, but their friendship was ideal right now. It bothered the orange haired boy at how ‘alright’ everything could be, but still feel shitty because he was 2nd place to a girl he doesn’t even know.

It was the weekend after the week Ness has started to go out with the girl. He wondered how long their relationship will last. He wondered if he would actually be serious with her in the long run. What if they got married? 

Claus didn’t want to think about it anymore, so he stood up from his computer chair he was sitting upon. He decided to take his interest elsewhere; particularly to his brother’s room. He exited his bedroom, closed the door behind him, and headed to that destination. With politeness, he knocked on Lucas’ door. 

 _“You can come in!”_ said Lucas from the other side.

“‘Kay.” Claus opened the door then closed it after he got in. Right now, his brother was lying on his stomach on his bed, feet up and holding onto his phone. Earbuds were attached to his ear until he took one out, showing Claus that he was formerly listening to music.

“Sorry, you could keep doing what you were doing.” Claus felt like he was bothering him, but nonetheless received a smile from his twin brother.

“It’s okay!” Lucas made a small grin. “You let me in your room when I feel like it, so…”

Claus nodded, smiling a little back at him. He took his relaxation right next to Lucas, and lied down on the bed next to him on his stomach was well. He propped up his head with his hands and looked at Lucas’ phone, asking, “Whatcha up to?”

“Messaging friends,” Lucas wiggled his feet while saying so, “are you bored or something?”

“Yeah…” Claus puffed up his cheeks, and leaned on his brother lazily. He didn’t know why, but both of the twins liked to be close to each other on their own time. When out with friends, they weren’t this comfortable in front of them.

Lucas happily let his brother lean on him, and in response, did the same. It was comfortable. “So, what’ve you been up to?”

“I did all my homework, Lucas,” said Claus, sounding surprised, himself.

“Wait, _really?_ ” Lucas looked shocked at the news. “Even math?”

“Even math,” concluded Claus, “and I got all of them right!”

Lucas giggled at how proud he sounded. “Good for you!” He patted his brother’s fluffy hair. Claus smiled at the action. Afterwards, a silence followed, the boys only basking in the comfortness of each other’s presence. Sometimes it was just nice to have someone there, rather than no one at all.

Right now, Lucas was texting Ninten and would occasionally laugh a little at the messages he received. Claus didn’t want to eavesdrop on what they were talking about, and just laid there, getting a little sleepy despite it only being the afternoon.

“Hey, Claus?” Lucas turned his head to his brother curiously. Claus’ brows went up in acknowledgement. “Did you know Ness got a girlfriend?”

 _Wow, I really didn’t want to talk about this right now_ , is what Claus thought, but still answered, “Yeah, I know.” He didn’t really give off any sort of emotion to his brother.

Lucas smiled. “That’s great! Now all of your problems are solved!” He patted his brother on the back. “He can’t do anymore _weird_ stuff around you anymore,” he said with a protective tone.

“Yep…” Claus trailed off, “but it seems like he doesn’t have enough time for me anymore.”

“But didn’t you kinda want that?” asked Lucas.

“I didn’t want Ness to stop spending time with me, I just wanted him to stop getting so up close to me,” Claus clarified.

“Hm…” Lucas pursed his lips. “Well then, why don’t you try asking him if he wants to do anything today and see what he says?”

“Eh, I could try,” Claus replied with hope. He slipped his phone out of his pocket, turned it on, then unlocked it. Lucas decided to respond to Ninten’s messages as he waited for the end result. The orange haired boy now laid completely on his back, holding his phone up as he gingerly typed out his message.

 _“hey ness, wanna do anything today?”_ he typed. It took about a minute for him to respond.

“ _Sorry, Claus! Me and Paula have a date tonight. Maybe tomorrow?”_ was the response. Claus didn’t really like it, but it was reasonable.

“ _yea, sure. we can play a shooting game against people online together or something”_

_“Cool! I’ll be sure to come over around afternoon.”_

Claus thought the conversation would end there, when Ness posed another question he didn’t see coming.

“ _Another question... do you mind if I give Paula your phone number?”_

Claus’ eyes narrowed. _Of course I’d mind,_ he thought irritatingly.

“ _but y would she need it?”_

_“I dunno, she wants to tell you something.”_

_“well y dont u just tell me it so u dont need to give her my phone?”_

“ _Okay.”_

A long pause. It gave the orange haired boy enough time to put down the phone and close his eyes. He only stopped when the next _ping!_ was heard.

 _“There’s this girl that really likes you a lot_.”

Claus’ eyes widened. “ _WAT?”_

_“Lol, yeah. It’s one of Paula’s friends.”_

_“who?”_

_“A girl named Kumatora, never met her. She's the same age as us though."_

_Such a weird name,_ Claus judged, _it sounds so traditional, too._ Although, he had to admit that the possibility of a girl liking him was pretty exciting. He wondered what she was like, and if she’d be into the same things as him. Video games? Sports? The hobbies were endless. He didn’t want to be too hopeful about it, though. 

 _“that sounds pretty awesome”_ Claus ended up typing.

_“So you’re in?”_

_“In what?”_

_“...Dating her?”_

_O-Oh. Uh. HM._ Claus narrowed his eyes in critical thought. He didn’t know who the girl was, what she looked like, or anything. He was unsure if it’d be a good idea to just hop on the date train from just that. However… Ness was dating Paula. Claus getting a girlfriend himself felt like it would even out the score a bit; it might even make it more bearable if Claus were to have someone of his own like Ness does. It even seems like his hatted friend encouraged the relationship. Again, that was weird. Ness doing these things seemed to be attempts to push Claus further away from him; but the orange haired boy didn’t let that bother him.

He fumbled when typing, “ _sire y not”_ which he then sent a second text saying, _“sure**”_

Another long pause before his best friend would reply again. Claus rested another time.

When he did reply back, all it said was, _“Cool.”_

There was nothing more. The orange haired boy waited, but still, there was no more incoming messages. The conversation ended so abruptly and cliff-hung the orange haired boy on this new girl that he talked about. He couldn’t believe another girl could like him without even talking to him before. Some part of Claus hoped she’d be nice and another part believed that she’d also be kind of pretty and skinny. Though, he wasn’t really picky when he thought in terms of ‘liking’ someone. As shallow of a boy he was, he figured he wouldn’t really care if the girl would be tall, short, fat, or ugly. It just seemed like a blessing to have a girl like him. _Him_ of all people.

 _I’m a retard,_ Claus thought down on himself, _I don’t do much, I don’t deserve this at all! I’m lazy, too! Shit!_

“Hey, Claus?” Lucas came in, now. The blond rolled over to get closer until his body would be right next to his twin. “So how’d it go?”

“A girl likes me, Lucas!!” Claus exclaimed, “And I don’t know how!”

“...” Lucas stared at the boy, then asked, “...Are you lying?”

Claus looked offended and rolled the boy over and away from him, earning laughters from Lucas. “No I’m not lying! I mean it!” 

Lucas seemed to have been giggling nonstop. “I know I know! I was kidding! Hehe! And good job!” His twin gave him a thumbs up. “Who’s the unfortunate girl?”

“You seem to have a lot of jokes up your ass at the moment, Luke.” Claus narrowed his eyes at the boy dangerously. Lucas scooted even further away from him on the bed. He was really having fun at the moment.

“I think Ninten’s rubbing off on me a little…” Lucas scratched his cheek with slight guilt. Claus rolled his eyes playfully. The orange haired boy was fine with Ninten by now; seeing as to how the kid knew more than he put out, which would be obnoxious insults and perverted lines. 

“Just make sure the boy doesn’t teach you to insult me every other second,” Claus replied jokingly, “oh, and the girl’s named Kumatora. Do you know her or anything?”

Lucas tilted his head. “Doesn’t ring a bell, but I hope to meet her when you guys get together!” He grinned happily.

Still, Claus remained unsure, but said, "Yeah..."

Lucas grinned while Claus faked one.

_Ping!_

His phone vibrated in his hands, as Claus said, 'Finally' in his head. He expected a text from Ness, but no, it was from a completely different phone number. 

_"hello? this is kumatora."_

Claus breathed in sharply from nervousness and surprise. A hand quickly flew to his mouth as he stared at the text in awe. 

"Claus?" Lucas asked weirdly.  

Claus flew off the bed, patting Lucas' shoulder in the process. "I'll talk about it later!" He then scurried out of the room, then to his. He closed, locked his door, then scooted onto his bed as he looked at his phone in private. He stared at the text message, confused and also excited. He also didn’t get how the girl got his phone number. He automatically blamed Ness internally, but also didn’t care at the same time. He fumbled as he typed out his reply.

 _“hi. it’s claus”_ was all he typed; he didn’t know what the heck to say to this girl.

_“sorry if it’s all sudden… my best friend paula gave me your number and I wanted to talk to you.”_

_Hold up._ Claus narrowed his eyes. His relaxed mood turned into one that seemed betrayed, just a little. He told Ness not to give it to her, but in the end, he did. This pissed the orange haired boy off, but then he wouldn’t have gotten a text from this girl if he hadn’t in the first place. He sighed aloud, then continued.

 _“its cool, dont worry about it”_ Claus found himself being lenient overall with her. She liked him and he was aware of it; it felt obligatory to just be nice. In all honesty though, he’s never texted a girl before, and has never had a conversation in reality that went past, ‘Can I borrow a piece of paper?’ He was just a little bit nervous, but approached it casually.

_“thank you… :)”_

Claus tilted his head at the text as a small tint of pink appeared on his cheeks. Already, Kumatora has started to type out her next message.

“ _so, what’re you into?”_

 _I have no idea what to say for this_ . Claus froze up for a good half minute trying to think. Then he replied, _“i like to play video games, soccer, and eh, surfing the internet for funny things”_ He took the honest approach. He didn’t do much.

_“wait really? me too! well, for the video games and internet :P”_

Claus’ mouth opened momentarily in awe. _She’s lazy, too?! Bruh…_ He smiled a bit. 

Afterwards, the two began texting for what seemed like a few hours. They talked about each other on topics such as interests, hobbies, school, friends, etc. Claus was just now only understanding how Ness could manage to text Paula for so long and consistently. He had to admit, it was downright addicting. Girls were like good chatterboxes; they could easily kill time by making them talk to you. In this case, he used this time to think about his choice. Should he or should he not date her? So far, nothing kept him back. She had a lot in common with the boy. Claus soon noticed that she was tomboyish, as well.

 _“hey claus?”_ Kumatora typed midway through their conversation on tv shows.

_“ya?”_

_“do you think we could ever meet up somewhere? when are you free?”_

_“im literally free all the time…”_ Claus admitted.

“ _lol xD”_

_“lol”_

_“well anyways, i was thinkin that maybe we could go to the park sometime”_

Claus typed, _“which one?”_

_“how about saturn valley park? it’s near my place, im not sure about you.”_

Claus was surprised. _“that park is really close to my house, too! i could walk there if i wanted to”_

_“:D cool! wanna meet up there, now? i mean it’s up to you, im not forcing you to...”_

At that message, the orange haired boy looked out the window. It wasn’t even close to sundown, yet, it was the afternoon and Claus basically had no reason to say no at all. 

_"sure why not c:"_

Though Claus didn't know what was supposed to be done when he would get there, he agreed anyway, and decided it was something he was just new to. Maybe people in relationships automatically like to meet each other so suddenly? Claus shrugged it off and got into a fresh new set of clothing. He didn't want to do anything fancy, though, he did have a graphic tee and jeans get-up when he would want to look good; those times were rare though. Those times were definitely not now. 

He put on the striped tee shirt and shorts, fixed his messy hair, and went out of his room without further ado. He was halfway down the stairway when he called out. 

"MOM! LUKE! I'm going out!" he yelled throughout the whole house. 

 _"Where?"_ asked the mother through her closed bedroom door. 

"PARK!"

_"Oh! Have fun then! Stay safe!"_

"KAAAY!" Claus replied, smiling at his mother's leniency. Meanwhile, Lucas got out of his room and looked down at his brother from the stair rail with curiosity. 

"For why?" he asked, instinctively cute. 

'Kumatora,' he mouthed to Lucas to make sure his mother wouldn't hear. 

'Ooooh...' Lucas winked at his brother with a little smile. "Have fun~!" he sang. The brief phrase sounded just like Ninten, though Claus waved it off.

"Yeah, see you!" Claus waved. Afterwards, he walked out the door and towards Saturn Valley Park. 

* * *

He was the first to get there, and only a few people were at the beautiful park at the moment. The sky was a nice blue, and the weather was getting colder as it approached the end of the year. Though, it didn't bother Claus quite yet. 

He didn't know where she was going to come in from, and took a seat on a bench facing the barren playground. Yellowing grass surrounded him, and nearly empty trees hung over the boy. He slouched back on the seat and sighed. The outside felt so nice.

"C-Claus?" a different, nervous voice was heard behind him. The boy curved his head around to the source. At that moment, he now knew who Kumatora was: she was that girl that stayed late after school when he forgot to take the bus home. She was the girl talking to Paula.

He was calm just a second ago, but now grew nervous, himself.

"Hi," he greeted weakly. She walked awkwardly towards the boy and took a seat next to him. She shakily did her actions, but nonetheless looked very happy and excited at the moment. "I remember you...!" 

She smiled. "Yeah! I saw you stay after school that one time." 

Currently, she wore her usual school clothes that Claus saw earlier. That big hoodie that was nearly a dress. It was cool yet, girly at the same time. Her hair was short, but feminine, too. Claus thought she was pretty in a way. At least, prettier than Paula. His choice was definitely bias.

"Well I wasn't actually staying after..." Claus trailed off guiltily, "I ditched class and went to the bleachers, then fell asleep for a while." He laughed nervously.

Kumatora giggled, scooting closer to Claus discreetly. "That really sounds like something a guy like you would do." 

"HEY. I'll have you know I'm top of my class," he stated. 

"Wow, _really?"_ she asked humorously. 

"Nope," Claus finished. The intention to make her laugh, worked. He felt proud. 

"Ahaha!" She laughed conservatively. When she was done, she was left with a grin. "You're funny," she commented afterwards, earning a small smile from the orange haired boy.

Afterwards, the two sat there, chatting along the lines of themselves a bit more. It was better than through phone, they both thought; and Claus was especially relieved that Kumatora was, well, who she turned out to be. She seemed to be one of the quiet girls out of the group he saw after school that day, and didn’t come off as annoying.

“So um…” Kumatora looked down at her pink boots. “Ever had a girlfriend before?”

Somehow, that question managed to make Claus feel just a bit more self-conscious than he previously was. He replied, “Not exactly…” and to keep from letting the conversation get awkward, he added, “How about you?”

“That’s surprising.” Her eyes widened as she switched her gaze back on the boy next to her. “Yeah, I’ve had a few, like, 3 before.”

Claus shook internally, thinking, _Goddammit I should’ve lied and told her I had one before! She’s gonna think I’m inexperienced now!_ He asked a question that needed to be asked, “How were they?”

“I didn’t like them at all,” she stated bluntly, with a bit of attitude in her voice, “they were nice at first, but then they just changed. One cheated on me, and the other two were just _stupid_ as _fuck._ ” Just now, Claus has experienced the true personality of what was Kumatora. He has never heard the girl curse, and right now he found it surprising that she wasn’t meek like his brother.

“What do you mean by ‘stupid’?” asked Claus. She was hoping she didn’t mean it academically. “I get pretty bad grades in school,” he admitted, not wanting to misconstrue anything.

“I don’t mean _that_ kind of stupid. I’d call that just being lazy.” She smiled amusingly at him. “I don’t care about that stuff. When I call them stupid, I mean they just made bad decisions overall. _That_ kind of stupid,” she clarified. Claus sighed of relief internally.

“That’s good,” Claus said; and that was all after that. Both of them found themselves at a stalemate in the conversation. It’s been on and off quite often, but that was due to the reason of Kumatora wanting to ask Claus something she has been wondering for a while. She couldn’t take it anymore, the rumors and things passing around, in addition to the possibility of Paula probably telling her boyfriend already were bothersome. 

“C-Claus,” she stammered, then rose herself from that pit of cowardice, “you know I like you, right?”

Claus blinked a few times in surprise. He felt the need of answering that question humorously; Kumatora was getting a bit too serious for his liking. 

“Nope, I didn’t realize at _all_.” Claus chuckled to himself, then continued, “I didn’t notice that you were staring at me for a good chunk of time that one day after school, nor did I pick up any hints from your text messages.”

Kumatora blushed, then instinctively pushed the boy lightly on the arm. Claus was reveling in laughter.

“Okay, okay!” She balled her hands into fists from embarrassment. “I get it!”

She flew into a silence, thinking to herself. Once Claus’ laughter died, she decided to speak up once again.

“Look, I just wanna know if it bothers you, though.” She gave a look of concern. 

Claus replied with a nonchalant shrug, saying, “Nah, not really. Why should it?”

“Well…” She fiddled with her fingers. “In the case that you didn’t really… like...me…” She said the last part very quietly, but Claus heard her nonetheless.

The orange haired boy tilted his head at her, raising a peculiar eyebrow. “I do like you,” he said so straightforwardly. It wasn’t a lie, but he wasn’t so sure if he liked her as a friend only, or as more than a friend. How would he know if he didn’t even have a girlfriend yet?

Kumatora looked so happy after that, her pink colored eyes sparkled. “Really?!” She grinned at him, invading his space, but the boy didn’t care.

Claus grinned back, “Yes, really.”

Inside Claus’ head he thought, _I actually really don’t know…_

Kumatora, letting her passionate attitude take lead, asked another question following after. “In that case… do you… u-um.. wanna go out…?” Despite her encouragement, she asked the question so timidly. 

Luckily, Claus was expecting this, especially since she was the one to call him out to hang at this park. He got a chance to think ahead and make his decision. 

 _Well, Ness has a girlfriend…_ he considered, _won’t it just be equal between us this way? Both having girls?_ Claus felt like he reached some sort of satisfaction with the choice.

“Sure, we could try.” Claus nodded with certainty. This mere sentence got the girl to hop up off the bench and jump up a little in achievement.

“YES!” She just kept on keeping that grin of hers. Claus decided to stand up with her, smiling at her glad reaction. He chuckled a bit at it, too.

...

Claus accepted the offer, only soon coming to question himself. Having a girlfriend is comforting by the label, but was his heart really in the game at all? Not knowing, and not caring enough about the consequences, he went along with it. Maybe he’d learn to love her more over time. He took her hand suddenly and shook it, sealing the deal in his kind of way. However, Kumatora settled the deal in her way, right after. 

She wrapped her arms around the orange haired boy, and cutely laid the side of her face on his shoulder. Claus embraced her in the same way, though, a bit awkwardly. She was a bit shorter than him, and never in most cases hugged someone shorter than him.

He then thought about her, then about himself: what they’d do with each other as they’d learn to grow closer. He pondered deeply at the cloudy future, until his hatted friend came into the flow of his thoughts.

Ness’ arms were thicker than Kumatora’s, whose limbs were around him at the moment; and his head would usually hang over Claus’ shoulder due to his taller height. Without knowing, the memories of his best friend’s hugs came back to him and filled in his every thought, causing his arms to wrap tighter around the girl’s waist. His heart beat quicker, and his head felt light with blissful distraction of the world around him.

... It couldn’t be helped, when all he could imagine was Ness being in Kumatora’s place.


	11. In Your Dreams

It was Sunday and Claus was laying in his bed. For nearly the rest of the afternoon yesterday, Kumatora and him hung out and talked whilst playing on the empty playground. At one point, he was pushing the girl on the swing, and Claus thought it was pretty romantic. He was starting to get comfortable seeing her more in person from yesterday, but how Kumatora addressed him as either ‘Honey-Bunny,’ or ‘Sweetie’ made him feel a little off. The names were different, but nothing felt different. Kumatora made it go fast, and Claus thought it took a slow process to reaching 100% boyfriend/girlfriend status. Now all of a sudden he’s a ‘boyfriend.’ 

_ What’s the damn difference?! _ Claus pondered. Kumatora is his girlfriend, but they act like friends?  _ Am I supposed to kiss her or what? ...Eh, but… I don’t wanna waste my first kiss on someone that’s not very special yet… _

Though Claus is himself, he couldn’t help but just think about his first kiss, and its importance. He’s seen the movies and read a few novels that stressed a first kiss’ value. 

Instinctively, the orange-haired boy stuck out his lips, then poked at them with his fingers. They were bouncy and moist. Winter was nearing soon, and the cold now has yet to chap up his lips. Claus smirked proudly over such a trivial thought. However, his thoughts went back to his first kiss issue. 

That was when Claus started to have a daydream.

_ … _

_ It was dark, cold, but beautiful as Claus and Kumatora stood together on the edge of a balcony, leaning against the railing. Millions of stars were out in the sky as gray clouds complimented the sparkling white orbs.  _

_ Kumatora wore a beautiful skin-tight red dress that brought out her pink eyes due to the slight color contrast. She was also in red heels, and her legs were slim; she wore herself better than most other girls. A humble hourglass form. She stood peacefully, staring skyward at the brilliant stars. The luminous lights reflected in her eyes as her pupils turned from the sky to Claus, himself. _

_ Claus was in a black tuxedo with his charming orange hair slicked cleanly. The outfit exposed the true sleek fitness of his body form. He, too, stared back at the girl to his side. His lashes batted casually and alluringly as he stared down at her. The girl smiled through her neatly applied lipstick. _

_ “Claus… tonight was wonderful…” she trailed off in a higher, softer pitch than usual. _

_ “Yes, it was,” Claus replied, exaggeratingly manly, “but you were the most wonderful of it all.” _

_ Kumatora giggled. She looked away shyly, then back at him with more confidence. She was ready to speak. _

_ “Claus,” she addressed, “I… I…” _

_ “Shh.” Claus closed in on her and put a finger to her lips. “Say no more. I understand.”  _

_ Kumatora seemed weak to the boy’s voice as Claus put a hand around her waist, suddenly taking her into a romantic dip. The orange-haired boy leaned in on her as he smiled enticingly at her. The wind blew through his hair with great timing. _

_ “Oh, Claus~!” Kumatora expressed, the back of her hand to her forehead. “I cannot hold it in any longer! I must say it now. I must follow my heart!” _

_ “Then follow it… if you must,” Claus cooed dramatically. _

_ “I… l-lo…” Kumatora stuttered. _

_ Claus stared intently at her as she stumbled over her words. However, she never finished what she was going to say before her entire body started to fade away, only to be replaced by another familiar figure. Now, in Claus’ arms, was a hatless raven-haired boy in a dark blue tux who gladly finished off the phrase Kumatora was starting. _

_ “I love you, Claus…” Ness finished weakly, as if taking the submissive role in Claus’ arms. A heavy blush fell onto the raven-haired boy’s cheeks as he gently wrapped his arms around Claus’ neck. _

_ “Ness…!??!” Claus’ arms shook as he held him. He questioned why the hell his best friend was in his arms, and not his girlfriend. However, there was no time for that. _

_ “Clausie~” Ness strung out attractively, “kiss me…” _

_ Already, the raven-haired boy brought his face up close to Claus’ freaked out one. Ness used one hand to caress the other boy’s cheek as his soft lips slowly got closer… and closer… _

_ … _

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!” Claus screeched throughout the household, opening his eyes from his daydream. He sat up from his bed, clearly realizing he had fell into a nap without noticing.

_ Knock knock! _

Claus jumped at the sound.

_ “Claus, you okay?!” _ Lucas asked from the other side.

“NO!” Claus straight-up told him, “What makes you think I am if I just  _ screamed _ throughout the whole house?!”

_ “Eeh?!”  _ Lucas sounded right after, not expecting that sort of answer.  _ “Can I come in, then?”  _

“I don’t care!” Claus replied, falling back onto his bed, stomach faced down. Afterwards, Lucas opened the door, and closed it right behind him. He approached his irritated looking brother with caution.

“What  _ happened _ ?” Lucas asked, very curious with worry. He took a seat at the foot of Claus’ bed.

The orange-haired twin looked at him grouchily. In a curt tone, he answered, “Nightmares. Just nightmares, Luke.” 

That was when Lucas went from worried to a little humorous. “ _ Nightmares…?” _ The blond wore a small smile, clearly exposing his internal laughter to Claus.

“Yes, nightmares,” Claus concluded.

That was when Lucas actually started to laugh a little.

“Uhuh.” Claus passed Lucas an unamused face. “Fuck you too.”

“H-Hey! It was funny, okay?!” Lucas puffed up his cheeks unseriously. He scooted closer to his brother who was sprawled out on his bed. “But putting that aside, what happened in your dream?”

Claus was quick to answer, or rather, vent. “I was imagining me and Kumatora’s first kiss.”

“Oh, so I guess you messed it up, huh?” Lucas answered considerately. Claus took it the wrong way, but pushed it aside.

“No! I didn’t! It was great and we were both in fancy clothing on a balcony! The stars were shining and I took her into a romantic dip!” Claus corrected, “I was  _ swooning _ her.”

The blond stared at him with a look of amusement. “But.. then how was that a nightmare?” He couldn’t help but grin ridiculously, thinking about the image his brother put in his head.

“NESS SHOWED UP! UGH!” Claus shouted, clutching the pillow and wiggling his legs childishly for a moment.

“Oh, um.” Lucas scratched at his cheek a little with his fingertip. “Did he stop you two from kissing or something like-” 

“NO!” Claus interrupted, “Kumatora turned  _ into _ Ness!”

“...” The blond stared interestingly at his brother, silent. 

Claus didn’t say anything.

Lucas cleared his throat purposefully. “So. That um. Wow.”

“The  _ nerve _ of that guy…” Claus trailed off frustratingly, still face-first on the pillow.

“But it’s  _ your _ dream, Claus,” Lucas mentioned awkwardly.

“Your point?” Claus asked, muffled.

Lucas uncomfortably massaged the back of his neck with his hand. “Er, uh. Are you  _ sure _ you don’t… swing the other way just a little?”

“The fuck you talking about, Lucas.” That question seemed to get Claus off his stomach, and to sit up on the bed, facing his brother. He stared daggers at Lucas.

Lucas smiled nervously. “I mean like it’s your dream.  _ You’re _ the one who made Kumatora turn into Ness…” he trailed off, a little fearful of how his brother will react to it.

A couple moments of silence pass. 

Claus narrowed his eyes at the blond. “Fuck you.”

“Ah.” Lucas looked away awkwardly. It seemed like Claus wasn’t having any sort of shit for the day; Lucas wasn’t typically upset or anything about it. It was just an entertaining part of his life, now.

Another silence.

“S-So uh, Ness!” Lucas faked a smile. Claus still didn’t look pleased. “That guy! He’s coming over today, is he not?”

Claus went from irritated, to curious. “Oh, that’s right!” He smiled. “Thanks for reminding me, I’ll call him to see when he’ll be over.”

“Yeah…!” Lucas, still feeling strange throughout the whole situation, gave him a thumbs up. “I’ll… leave you to that! Have fun..!” That was when the blond hurriedly exited the room, leaving Claus with a raised eyebrow. However, instead of questioning the abrupt leave, the orange-haired boy turned to his phone and dialed up his best friend.

His smartphone made its usual rings, until the friend he was expecting, answered it.

“Yo,” Claus greeted casually.

_ “Uh, hey Claus!” _ Ness replied.

"So when will you be over here?" The orange haired boy wanted a time. 

_ "..."  _ Ness took a while to respond, leaving Claus with hearing minor static over the phone. 

"Ness?" Claus called to. 

_ "I-I'm sorry, I totally forgot about our plans today. I won't be able to make it." _

"Wait, why the fuck not? I told you these plans yesterday! Do you have the memory of a peanut?!" Claus curtly told him. 

_ "I have another date with Paula..."  _ Ness trailed off guiltily. 

"Oh, her," Claus emphasized rudely, "that girl you gave my phone number to when I  _ told  _ you exactly not to." 

Ness made a saddened sound,  _ "Uh- yeah..."  _

Claus groaned audibly. "The fuck, Ness? Seriously." 

_ "Well you wouldn't have gotten to see Kumatora yesterday if I didn't,"  _ Ness argued back passively.

"Details like that just spread around you, Kumatora, and Paula, huh?" Claus said displeasing. He was ready for Ness to say that. "Phone number or not, that girl would've came to me regardless."

Ness was silent, letting the little static over the phone take over again.  _ "So I heard that you're dating her, now?"  _ he switched topics completely. He said that sentence as if he was clarifying it from the source, Claus. 

"Yes," Claus said, not too excited about it. Friend and girlfriend titles still didn't make sense to him. What does it mean to be a boyfriend? What's so different about a close friend and a girlfriend? Was it physical connection? Claus was an immature boy, but if physical connection is all that makes it different, then that didn't make it sound exciting.

_ "Ah, cool man!"  _ Ness said, happy for him,  _ "Do you like her?" _

Claus bit his bottom lip. "We got together just yesterday, and it felt fast. Yeah, I do. She apparently likes video games and being on the internet all day like me," he replied, getting more into detail, and sounding better as he goes. 

_ "That sounds awesome!"  _ Ness sounded genuinely happy.  _ "We should do a double date thing..."  _ he trailed off suspiciously,  _ "whenever you feel up to one." _

"Uh, sure?" Claus thought double dates were something the girls would come up with first. He just needed to make sure about it. "Ness, bro, did you come up with that on your own?"

_ "No, not at all. Paula suggested one TODAY,"  _ Ness was quick to answer,  _ "then I realized that we had plans today and didn't know how to tell you, 'Oh, forget games let's go on a double date,' without sounding like an ass, so that completely fucked me over. Then you ended up calling me and I was like, 'Shit.'" _

The way Ness said all that made Claus burst into laughter. "Ahahaha! Damn." 

_ "It's honestly just relieving that you basically know everything now,"  _ Ness told him,  _ "I thought you'd smite me or something."  _

"You're not technically off the hook, yet, Ness," Claus pointed out, but none too seriously or mad. A small whine came from the boy on the phone. "You owe me one."

_ "Okay okay..."  _ Ness gave in.  _ "But on another note... Will you do it?" _

"Do what?" Claus asked, having forgotten already.

_ "...The double date, dude."  _

"Oh." Claus took a moment to think. "But... It's only the second day of being with Kuma and all. Does Paula not realize that?"

_ "Oh yeah, she does,"  _ Ness said matter of factly,  _ "Kumatora already knows about the date, too. She was okay with it." _

"Did Luma want to go?" Claus asked curiously and considerately. 

_ "Paula said she was excited." _

"Hm," the orange haired boy sounded. "Alright. If it makes her happy I'll go."

_ "Same, in terms of Paula. What about you though? You don't seem too up for it." _

"It's a double date, dude. It seems weird already. I mean do YOU like it?!"

Ness scoffed humorously.  _ "Well- no." _

"See what I’m sayin’, Ness?” Claus said, proving his point.

_ “But CLAUS…”  _ Ness trailed off, completely emphasizing the importance of the words he was about to say,  _ “the date’s gonna be at that one huge amusement park. And Paula’s gonna pay for our tickets.” _

Claus sputtered, “WAT. YOU MEAN THAT ONE AMU-”

_ “Yes. That one. That ridiculously expensive one with godly rides.” _

“How the hell- THAT’S 100 BUCKS A TICKET THOUGH!” Claus exclaimed in disbelief.

_ “I KNOW RIGHT?!”  _ Ness exclaimed, as well. 

The boys took a few moments to make sounds of satisfaction and excitement over the phone. It was filled with, “bruuuh”s and “duuuude”s and “lawd jesus”s. When they were done doing so, they began to ramble on and on about the rides and such because they’ve only been there once in their lifetimes during middle school; it was for Claus’ birthday. It was hands down the best amusement park that existed, and if anything to fanboy about, it was that place.

“How the heck is your girl paying for all this?!” Claus asked.

_ “She’s well off… she’s very uh, high class you could say. Hehe.” _

“Leech as much as you can,” Claus jokingly added, earning a laugh from Ness.

_ “Woooow.” _

“Anyways,” Claus got back on topic, “what time are we all meeting there?”

_ “It’s an all-day pass, man. We were gonna go as soon as you agreed to it. GET REAAAADY!” _ Ness suddenly shouted into the phone in an attempt to instill hype into the orange haired boy.

“HELLLLL YEAAAAAH!” Claus wooed, bouncing off of the bed and onto his legs.

_ “Paula’s drivers are gonna pick us all up, too, by the way. We’ll be there in like half an hour!” _

“Alright!” Claus agreed excitedly, “I’ll talk to you then!”

_ “‘Kay! See you!” _

“Bye!”

_ Click! _

_ Ermerfreaking god ROLLER COASTERS!!  _ Claus thought in his head as he prepared to change. However, the thought dwindled into something else; which was what to wear. The boy poked at his cheek, staring into his closet that he has opened. He was opening and closing drawers, open to different ways to present himself, but yet, chose the same striped shirt and shorts everyday to school. This was a date, though. It only occurred to him right now that he had to look nice.

_ Wait, I wonder what Kumatora would like to see me in.  _ That quick thought shot through Claus’ mind. It was October, and quite frankly, it was getting colder by the day. Maybe a hoodie would look nice for a change.

So forth, Claus pulled out a nice, light blue zip-up hoodie with its trademark brand printed small on the breast. He left it unzipped halfway on top of his usual striped shirt, letting the top half flap open, and the laces dangle freely. Afterwards, he stripped his orange shorts off and replaced it with blue skinny jeans. The outfit fitted him slim, showing off a faint outline of his lightly toned body. The denim of the jeans stuck out to the eye, making it a good complement to his hoodie.

When he got the outfit on, he walked out of his room and to the bathroom. He closed the door behind him, locked it, then focused on his looks. His face looked the same as it always did. Green eyes, orange, untamable hair, pink lips, and white skin. He leaned in on the mirror to get a closer look. His white skin carried along slight blemishes, such as insignificant freckles that served more to bring out his face, rather than make him ugly.

From impulse, he made goofy faces in the mirror. He stuck out his lips, cringed one eye, and squished his cheeks together with his hands. Another he made included a stupid grin; his mostly straight, white teeth shone through. He smiled humorously at how weird he got himself to look. However, by the time he was done, he stared seriously at himself one last time. He focused his eyes and stared himself down that it even started to make him feel threatened by his own gleaming eyes. Then, ever so casually, he winked to himself. 

_ The Claus is lookin' good~ _ he thought fakely, but enjoyed the purposeful narcissism overall. 

He left the bathroom and told Lucas that he was going on a double date with Ness. He also said to tell their mom if she happened to get home before Claus would. Lucas agreed, and Claus spent the majority of his time in his brother's room before his ride would arrive.

* * *

"Overall," Lucas summarized, "don't be yourself and don’t do anything stupid."

"Ninten really is making you meaner by the day, huh?" Claus replied, displeased. 

"N-No! I was just giving you tips!" Lucas defended, hoping Ninten wasn't the case at all. 

Then knocking was heard from the bottom floor. It clattered in Claus' head, and the boy got up from Lucas' bed and began heading out. 

"See you, Lucas!" Claus said his farewell. 

"Okay, bye! Have fun!" Lucas replied, waving him off. 

From there, Claus walked down the stairs and to the front door, which he unlocked to find Ness standing there in his outfit. Clearly aware of the decreasing temperature the months were bringing, he was in a different get up as well. Ness wore a long sleeved white undershirt, along with a short-sleeved dark purple plaid shirt over it. The plaid shirt was unbuttoned, revealing the white undershirt below it. He also wore black skinny jeans with his red and white Vans. Interestingly enough, Claus noticed something else that was rather crazy.

Ness didn’t bring his hat along with him at  _ all _ . He just brought his body, dislodged of that hat that seemed to be a body part more than an accessory to Ness. Claus was wide-eyed as he stared at his best friend’s head; it was all hair. 

“Hey!” Ness greeted with a huge grin. Already, the compressed excitement could be detected from the raven-haired boy. Claus returned a smile back at him.

“‘Sup?” Claus replied. They instinctively did their short handshake as a greeting.

“Paula and Kumatora are in the car right now, let’s go,” Ness encouraged, turning around slightly as a gesture. Claus nodded gladly and followed after. At first, his friend was directly in front of him, until he caught up and walked by his side. That was when he saw it. Right on his curb. 

“Um. Ness.” Claus stopped, eyes agape.

“Yeah?” Ness turned back to his friend, stopping along with him. He stared at Claus for a moment, then at Paula’s car, then back to him. “Oh, right. Yeah I freaked out too.” 

“IS THAT A FREAKIN’ LIMO ON MY CURB?!” Claus exclaimed ridiculously, pointing at the transportation device.

“Her family owns 2 of those,” Ness added in, "...yup."

“FFFFFFFFFFFF-” Claus was flabbergasted. However, the tug of Ness' hand on Claus' sleeve made the orange haired boy snap out of it and follow along. They made it to the side of the car, where Ness opened the back portion for Claus to enter. 

There, he saw the two girls, Paula and Kumatora, sitting across from each other. They were laughing currently, clearly at Claus' reaction that they saw through the window of the car. Claus flushed, entering the car on the right side. He took a seat in the clean and very spacey limo next to Kumatora, who was sitting across from Paula. Ness entered next and sat with the blonde girl afterwards. 

Claus was awkward in a social situation like this, but he couldn't keep shut about it. "So. You got a limo."

"Yeah." Paula smiled proudly. Kumatora giggled right next to Claus, who pursed his lips. This was too surprising. He didn't think Ness would ever date a rich girl. Heck, Paula didn't come  _ off _ as rich to Claus either way.

The lack of voice in the limo as the long car began moving gave room for the blonde and raven-haired boy to look over at both Kumatora and Claus. The orange-haired boy sat on his seat shyly as there was a noticeable space he had put between him and the pink haired girl. Claus firmly pressed his hands inside of his hoodie and looked downwards. He knew they were all staring. It was also the first time he had seen Ness with a girlfriend, ever; and he sure wasn't being conservative about it. 

At the corner of Claus' eyesight, he saw Ness' hand wrapped around Paula's waist as the sides of their bodies touched; there being no space between them. At times, the blonde would peck at the raven-haired boy's cheek, and would receive the same treatment in return. Claus couldn't help but be bothered at how new this was. He was also bothered by the possibility of him having to do the same to Kumatora. After all, she was his girlfriend. 

_ How do you treat a girlfriend...?!  _ Claus panicked, getting the first thought of that here and now. He brought his eyesight upwards towards Ness who looked back. It was a quick glance from Claus, until the orange-haired boy then looked to Kumatora. She sat calmly, often times looking outside the tinted windows, but mostly at Claus. 

"How was your guys' date yesterday?" Paula asked, trying to spike up vocal activity. 

_ It was a date?  _ Claus thought candidly, being relieved that his quick response hadn't been spoken out by him on accident. 

Kumatora grinned at her. "It was super fun! We talked about video games and played at the park a little."

Claus was planning to say nothing, but by the way the girls and Ness looked at him, it felt obligatory. 

"Oh," Claus began, faking a small smile to the crowd, "it was amazing!"

The other couple looked pleased for them. However, the space Claus put between him and Kumatora started to become more obvious as time went. The amusement park was far, too. 

Paula tilted her head as everyone noticed it. "Why the distance between you two?"

Kumatora and Claus looked at each other, then at the section of space between them. The pink haired girl looked a bit surprised, then at Claus, as if expecting something.

"U-Um, well..." Claus muttered. That was all he said, before he started to scoot over slowly and awkwardly to Kumatora. He had to admit that he was very weird in this situation. It was too uncomfortable being around Ness and his girlfriend at the same time. It was the slightest of annoying, and moreover, different. His best friend clearly had a priority one, his girlfriend, when it was usually the orange-haired boy sitting across from him. 

Claus furrowed his brows, now completely at Kumatora's side. He went as far as to make sure his legs were positioned at the point where it would always be in contact with his girl's. 

The orange-haired boy, usually a reserved one, passed over an irritated, 'Are you happy now?' face at the blonde girl. Paula giggled noticing it, and Claus turned towards Kumatora as if caught red-handed. Ness, too, had passed a smile at Claus. 

"How was your day?" Claus suddenly asked, trying to whisk off the air of silence. 

"Oh! It was awesome!" the pink haired girl replied back, glad Claus had asked. She continued, "I played a little bit of computer games as I waited, well, for this."

"Nice." Claus smiled at the response.

"What were you up to?"

"I was busy converting oxygen into carbon dioxide," Claus answered with wit, "...I was sleeping." 

Kumatora sputtered in a laugh, not expecting an answer like that from the boy. Ness and Paula happened to be listening in, to Claus’ dismay, and laughed as well. He didn’t know why, but he felt embarrassed, and didn’t want to involve himself in things that would bother him. However, he’s here in the limo, Kumatora close to him, Paula staring interestingly at the two of them, and Ness just hanging about as if judging Claus’ ‘woman’ techniques.

“How long were you sleeping? I mean, we just picked you up a few minutes ago,” Kumatora asked curiously.

“I didn’t think I was going to an amusement park today in a limo of all things. So I was planning to just laze in bed for the whole day until Ness would come over and hang,” Claus replied.

_ Except he didn’t come over… _ Claus thought additionally. He made a face at Kumatora as he did so, but Ness knew that expression was directed towards him.

“Hey, woah,” Ness came in, “it was either shooter games or the amusement park.” 

Claus turned his head and made a small smirk at Ness, who gave one back as soon as he received Claus’. “I know. I know.”

…

“AND IT WILL BE AWESOME!” Claus shouted a few seconds later, surprising the girls, but not Ness.

The raven-haired boy did the same, “HELL YES!”

Then the boys bent forwards on their seats to playfully slap each other’s hands while constantly yelling, “THE HYPE!! THE HYPE IS REALLLL!” followed by a loud rasp of air.

The girls looked at each other with weird smiles, then back to the boys who were really excited for today. They giggled at their reactions. By the time they were done, Ness and Claus slouched back into their chairs next to their girlfriends in laughter.

Their recent fanboy session seemed to have diluted the awkward atmosphere, and launch the party into vocal activity. The girls talked the most, usually about recent gossip around the school. Ness and Claus, whom were only a little interested went along to encourage such talks to their rather passionate girls. Some things that would’ve been better off unknown spurted out into the conversation.

“Oh, that guy Ninten?” Kumatora inquired.

Ness and Claus froze a little and decided to actually listen in 100%. The cuddle position they had in on the two only tightened a bit more.

“Yeah—” Paula turned her head in such a way towards the two boys. “Do you guys know Ninten?”

Ness replied, “Yeah, I have him for Bio.” Claus nodded along silently.

“One of my friends told me he might be a little gay,” Paula said rather mischievously. 

Kumatora squeaked out a little, “ _ What?! _ ” while the boys rose a brow, still not saying anything yet. Though they found the topic a little too close to home.

“He was with this white boy!” Paula said excitedly, clapping her hands together once. 

“That totally helps me know who it is,” Kumatora said sarcastically, “the majority of our school is freaking white Paula!”

“Okay okay—” Paula tried not to laugh in order to reply back. “He’s blond.”

Claus’ right eye twitched. Ness saw that.

“Still doesn’t help,” Kumatora concluded. She had a ridiculous smile plastered on her face.

“Augh! Well, I’m just sayin’ kay.” Paula pouted her lips at her friend, eliciting yet another giggle fest.

“I’m pretty sure it’s all rumors,” Claus decided, only a little annoyed. The girls looked over along with Ness. 

Paula made a look of understanding, “Yeah, I only heard about it, so I’m not sure myself. But is Ninten a little curvy to you guys?”

A moment of silence from the boys.

“WELL…” Ness drew out. He scratched his chin in thought, looking from Paula to Claus.

“HEY! You gonna sell out our friend?!” Claus said immediately to Ness, slapping the limo seat gently.

Ness bursted into laughter. “Bro, you  _ know _ he acts kinda different! ‘Specially around your twin~” he sang to the orange-haired boy. 

Claus withdrew from holding Kumatora to putting his hands on his head. “NO. Just no. DON’T YOU DARE GO THERE,” he threatened. He made Ness laugh even more.

“I’m kidding I’m kidding~”

The orange-haired boy narrowed his eyes at Ness.

The girls smiled along with the conversation, until Paula called out to them, “Hey, we’re here!”

From there the two boys dropped the topic faster than light. They fumbled to lower the limo windows and saw nothing but flashy amusement park rides and generous carnival games.

“DUUUUUUUDE—” The boys simultaneously reacted. They were the first ones out of the limo, and ran up and around the cars and asphalt of the parking lot. The girls decided to join them, figuring that the other two were too excited to come back and walk them to the ticket booths. When their little fiasco ended, Ness and Claus went back to reunite with their girlfriends to make the rest of the way towards the entrance. The amazing looking entrance; it looked like the entrance to some sort of castle.

Paula went up first, trailing girlishly towards the ticket handling man, who stared down with a smile at the younger girl.

“How many?”

“4 full day bracelets, please,” asked Paula, already handing over the immense amount of money that all 4 costed together. Even the other three cringed at the sight, but Paula looked as if she did this every single day.

“Thank you. Over here.” The man gestured for the 4 of them to the side where he cuffed the day bracelets to their correct wrist size. The boys’ eyes sparkled at the feeling and already their eyes were shooting to the contents of the park. It had everything, it was heaven; and the absolute best thing about it was the fact that since it’s so expensive to get into, there’s barely any  _ long _ lines. Claus loved it to  _ death _ .

After everyone’s bracelets were on, it was time to experience the amusement park in all its greatness. However, before Claus could bound off, he saw Ness take Paula’s hand and guide her into the park, side by side. The orange-haired boy calmed his impulsiveness to run in, and settled back with Kumatora as he put out his hand. With a small half-smile, Kumatora took his hand, and they continued into the park.


	12. On That Ride-Along

Claus was a respectful kid and he had to remember manners. This wasn’t like the last time he’s been here on his birthday where he literally led the group because he was the birthday boy. No, he had to be—though he didn’t want to think about it because he felt bad—chained to this pink haired girl. His hand gripped onto hers tightly to prevent himself from letting go easily. He could do an amusement park on his own; he didn’t need others to entertain him. However, Ness was chained down too, it seemed. Paula was chatting away his world again in front of him and Kumatora, but Ness just seemed to be looking at all the shiny rides.

 _I know you want to ride already, man,_ Claus thought to Ness, _but damn, your girlfriend was the one to get us in here; whatever she says, goes._

The orange-haired boy couldn’t hate the blonde girl. She spent $100 on him in a single day, how does he hate on that? Hell, she was probably going to buy everyone food, too.

“So what do you guys wanna ride first?” Paula asked the most desired question of them all. Claus pinned his mouth shut, however. He didn’t feel too obligated to speak around that girl at all.

“Oh! Oh!” Kumatora sounded. She grinned. “Roller coaster!”

“YES…!” Ness hissed out calmly. Claus knew he loved the shit out of roller coasters. He, himself, did too. A little smirk crept onto his face.

Paula giggled and replied, “Okay!” She nearly bounced in the direction of the roller coaster. Ness followed with his hand still stuck to hers, but with more passion because of his utter excitement for _that_ roller coaster.

The four of them showed up to the line and stood in it for a little bit, and it wasn’t until Claus got more up close until memories started flowing in. That common and bittersweet feeling: nostalgia. He pried his attention off of Kumatora for the sake of addressing such emotion and breathed out serenely, but he was brought back into her world when the pink haired girl nudged him and coddled up his space.

“What’s with that face?” Kumatora asked with interest. 

Claus fumbled for a second and balanced the weight Kumatora put upon him. “Oh, it’s nothing.” He only smiled a little bit. His eyes took one take on Ness, who seemed to be in the same trance as he, except he has yet to be interrupted by Paula.

They waited in line for a while and filled their conversation with mindless chatter and lovey-dovey statements from the girls. Personally, it weirded out Claus.

“Who's my wittle Nessie~?” Paula talked baby-like to her boyfriend. That elicited a faint blush on his cheeks and a little giggle. He sheepishly brought his hand to the back of his head and rustled his locks. 

Though that was quite impossible to ignore, Claus had his fill of his girlfriend as well. Even though they just started dating yesterday, Kumatora was clearly comfortable with the boy; which wasn’t going vice-versa for the orange haired one. She pecked at his cheek every now and then in an aggressive-like manner and she basically did as she wanted, but Claus assumed she was a considerate type regardless. He didn’t mind the pecks, for he compared it to the ones his mom gave him every other day. All he figured he should do was smile, and give a temporary hug in response. He did it smoothly, but his feelings yelled out _awkward._

He didn’t know why it was so awkward, and pushed it to the fact that he wasn’t used to it at all, nor assumed that getting a girlfriend would be totally great like his pick-up artist friends did. He never even thought of that possibility of him—of all people—getting a girlfriend. Don’t get him wrong, he’s hit puberty already and he hit it hard—he just didn’t want to picture Kumatora in that kind of light just yet.

“Next 8 people!”

They all got to the front of the line and the man monitoring the roller coaster ride examined their day passes and were let in sparingly. The 4 of them went in with glee, and took their seats next to their significant other in this 2 by 4 ride. Ness and Paula were a seat ahead of Kumatora and Claus. Adrenaline already flowed through their bodies as they snapped their latches on, when suddenly Claus remembered exactly how this ride went on his birthday.

 _Oh god._ Claus felt his stomach rise with anticipation. _I didn’t eat before this, did I?_ He couldn’t remember. _No, no way. I didn’t—!”_

The wheels made their starting screech, making Claus squeak a little himself. Only Ness seemed to notice that noise and turned around at that, but faced forward quickly once again.

The roller coaster slowly slid from its starting point and gradually climbed the tracks of the mountain of death before the usual descent into hell occurs (as Claus liked to put it). Claus’ heart beat out of his mind, but he loved this ride so much, yet, he knew it was one of his weaknesses.

Halfway there.

The girls giggled nonstop as the coaster seemed like it was going to touch the sky at one point. Ness had a smile plastered over his face, and decided to turn around again.

“Try to hold it in, Claus!” Ness advised, still smiling. Claus responded with a nervous smile himself.

“U-Uhuh!” He nodded shakily.

Kumatora noticed slight fear in Claus and gave his arm a gentle swipe. “Don’t be a scaredy cat!” she said with a laugh.

“Guuuuys!” Paula said only that and everyone put their attention on the fact that they were now going to descend into hell. They all held onto their restraints as the coaster slowly tilted itself over the peak of the whole ride, sending everyone on a momentary panic until the coaster flew down the track at the speed of light.

To tie it altogether they screamed, A LOT. The coaster took heart pulsating dips and too much 360’s for anyone's good. Claus felt like his head was either going to fall off from the wind whipping at his face or from being upside down too many times.

“THIS ISSSS SOOO AWESOMMEEEE!!!” Ness shouted aloud, earning cheers from the entire crowd of people on the ride. Adrenaline surged through everyone’s bodies which brought on an unhealthy amount of excitement.

Claus couldn't breathe, but he was having a lot of fun too. It was hard to smile with all that was going on, but he did anyway. The ride was scary and painful but it was pure _quality._ Suddenly, he was overcome with obnoxious laughter that Kumatora happily joined in with. 

“Hahhahah!” Those happy, snarky, out of breath laughs seemed to warm up everyone’s day and make it all better.

“H-...HEY!” Paula called breathy, “Cam shot!” 

“Whu—” Kumatora sputtered.

Paula giggled louder than usual. “SMILLLEE!”

At that the friends put on their best look for the picture despite that the ride literally messed up their hair and overall face composure.

_C—chlick!_

Soon after, the ride ended and everyone got off of it. It was as if everyone's legs had turned into jello. Paula held onto Ness for support as Kumatora did the same to Claus. They fumbled to walk straight again and to ease themselves of their laughter and head rush. Although, Claus was already feeling a bit queasy despite this being the first ride.

However, with Claus being Claus, he held in whatever nausea he was experiencing and pushed it to the side in hopes to not burden the other three or maybe disgust Kumatora. His eyes did wander to a nearby trash can though.

Ness was looking over at Claus, already knowing the boy had a weak stomach since they were kids.

“Hey Claus?” Ness held Paula, but had his attention on the orange haired boy. “You alright?”

“...Eh? Oh, yeah I'm fine.” Claus waved it off like it was no biggie.

“You sure? We could sit somewhere—”

“It's fiiiiine,” Claus insisted unintentionally annoyed.

Ness raised a brow at him, pursed his lips, then let it go.

The girls seemed to not be paying attention to their small conversation and one popped in and changed the topic completely. 

“Let's get our pictures!!” Paula said excitedly. She bounced in one direction, dragging Ness along with her. Ness complied and let her do so as the other two plodded on behind them, with Claus a bit more slow.

They arrived at the picture booth that was right next to where they exited the roller coaster from. It was labeled exactly, “PICTURES TAKEN INSTANTANEOUSLY!!!” The guy there seemed to be very passionate about his job, but according to Claus, he was very uh, weird. 

“Pictures taken instantaneously!” the bearded man at the booth excitedly said, “Here you are!” He handed out 4 photographs of the same copy that showed them in the middle of the roller coaster ride. The 4 examined the pictures.

Kumatora stuck out her tongue, Paula was grinning, Ness somehow had the strength to battle the force of the massive winds and made a peace sign, and Claus had a crumpled grin with a wink; he was sure it was due to the wind blowing in his eyes but he looked photogenic anyways. Claus saw that and thought, _Damn, I still got itttt._

The picture made him feel immensely better both physically and mentally. Then he found himself staring at Ness now. He always made that peace sign with his fingers; Claus thought it was ridiculous, yet awesome.

“This photo is so cute,” Paula commented, smiling down at the picture.

“Agreed,” Kumatora responded. 

When they finally got done looking at the photograph, Kumatora took the next swing at where they were going next.

“Anyone up for the Canyon Blaster?” she presented.

“Ooo! Me!” Paula stuck up a hand excitedly.

The two other boys looked confused, clearly not remembering that ride.

“It's a new log water ride they added half a year ago!” Kumatora addressed the confusion written on the boys’ faces. It seemed to answer their question. 

“Oooo, a water ride~” Ness said, mildly interested, “never thought they would come up with that!”

Claus wasn't sure about it, but went along with it anyway. “Yeah, I don’t mind trying something new.”

“The real question is do we get wet _a lot_ , though.” Paula looked skeptical. She was in her usual nice pink dress and didn't want to get it ruined. “I don’t really want to walk around this place soaking. And it’s kind of cold, too!” The only things coming out of her mouth seemed to be complaints. 

“Well thennnn… maybe you’ll just have to sit this one out then and the rest of us will ride it while you're all alone watching us have fun.” Kumatora winked at the blonde girl, telling her all the things she was afraid of. 

This made Paula stop her paranoia on getting wet. “Ugh, fineeee… whatever! I'm riding then!” With that, Paula took Ness’ hand and stomped ahead of everyone. When it came down to stuff like this, Kumatora was really good at getting her best friend to do stuff with her. The pink-haired girl smirked and followed behind the couple with Claus.

Before they knew it, they were there at the Canyon Blaster. The line was decent and overall not that bad. They waited for a good 5-10 minutes before they were called to get on. 

“Alriiiight. Next 4, come right on up!” the person in control of the ride said cheerily. Ness, Claus, Kumatora, and Paula did as told. They were going to sit next to their significant others like on the roller coaster ride, until the man said, “Just letting you kids know, people upfront get wetter.”

“Oh really?” Paula was the first to react. “I call back seat!” She reacted fast and was about to pull Ness with her to sit next to.

“Oh but uh... “ Ness sweatdropped, not necessarily ever denying Paula before. “I kinda wanted to get splashed on though... eheh. Mind if I sit up front?” Ness asked sweetly.

“Hm? Oh! Yeah, I don't really care, do whatever you want,” Paula said nicely with a smile. She was already getting into place.

As Ness took a seat up front and Paula right behind him, that left Kumatora and Claus’ pick on who would sit where.

“If you wanna sit up front I don’t mind,” Kumatora told Claus, “I've been on this ride before anyways, you might as well.”

“Oh okay, sure! I'll take it. Thanks!” Claus grinned at her. He thought for a moment there that she was very kind to him, and took his seat next to Ness. Kumatora sat next to her best friend in the back.

After getting settled into a log looking kind of boat contraption, the water below it started to flow rapidly to push the log forward. The ride made a pathway around other parts of the amusement park, and they were all able to see the sky. It wasn't too much of a fast ride, but moreover the relaxing type. That is, until the ‘wet’ part of the ride came into place.

At first, there were small little turns along the path the log went down that made little splashes on the kids.

“Pfff, is that all they got?” Claus commented, “I get this wet walking past sprinklers on the sidewalk.”

That earned a little laugh from Ness, while Paula spoke up at said, “Honestly, this is not as bad as I thought.”

“You all are definitely underestimating this ride,” was all Kumatora said.

“Eh? What do you mean?” Claus asked, dumbfounded.

“Look.” Kumatora pointed up ahead of them. They were all staring at Kumatora before she said that, which made them turn their heads forward. In front of them was a pathway down a ramp that led into a dip of water.

None of them really had time to react before the log boat started to accelerate forward into the dip of water, causing a huge splash of water onto everyone. Paula shrieked by the sudden contact of the water, while everyone else was thrown into laughter at the euphoria.

However, the ride didn't end there as the boat was pushed into even more obstacles that splashed everyone, gradually making their clothes damper and damper.

Claus was having a lot of fun, and finally looked around him to see everyone else’s reactions. He shifted his vision right, and the first thing he saw was Ness, who was already looking at him.

At first, the raven-haired boy smiled and laughed with Claus, then reverted back to just smiling. However, Ness didn't break eye contact the entire time, and neither did Claus. Claus was about to look forward again to see what was coming up, but couldn't when he realized Ness stared very intently at him. He was confused as to why, until Claus started seeing Ness’ eyes exploring all parts of his body.

For Claus, he was still wearing his hoodie unzipped completely; and the sudden splashes of water managed to wet some of his hair, and basically all of his striped shirt. It made the fabric stick to his body underneath, revealing the really slim and toned body Claus had. The water droplets also stuck to the boy’s unclothed parts of his body, trailing down the length of his face and neck. Ness took in that sight, and Claus let him.

The orange haired boy felt a blush creeping onto his cheeks. His eyes broke the stare, and only looked to the side for a second before he looked at Ness again. He wondered if the girls behind them were even noticing they were looking at each other like this. By the way they were screaming and laughing still, it didn't seem like it.

 _God this is so awkward…!_ Claus thought, but his feelings are different from before. He would usually be weirded out, but now he feels something new running through his veins… it was… excitement? 

Although the boys always make eye contact without giving much thought, the current staredown felt a little different. Both boys felt like they were almost looking through each other. This brought a buzz through both of their bodies; they admitted in their heads that it was a very naughty feeling. For Claus, it was a new feeling.

By now, his blush was obvious on his face. _Why am I not weirded out?! It’s like I want him to keep staring!_ Claus yelled at himself in his head. He took in the view in front of his eyes.

Ness was in his unbuttoned plaid shirt with a long sleeved white shirt underneath. The water had nearly the same effect it had on Claus’ clothes, making it stick to his body as well. However, Claus could see more. As the white shirt stuck to Ness’ chest, it revealed some skin underneath due to the see-through effect of water on white clothes. He felt like he could see everything of Ness’ upper body. He could see the curves of his pecs down to his clean cut abs that he earned from baseball...

However, Claus snapped out of it when Ness suddenly grabbed his own plaid shirt and covered his damp white shirt with it. That was when Claus looked back up to the raven haired boy who was no longer staring, but rather holding his unbuttoned plaid shirt closed with one hand, and using the other to cup his mouth. There, he saw a tint of pink on Ness’ ears leading down to his neck. He couldn't bear to look at Claus.

It seemed like the raven haired boy got embarrassed of Claus' stare and covered himself.

There were only a few obstacles left to splash the kids in the log boat before the ride arrived to its end. It made its way back to its original spot it started in and that’s where the kids got off.

“Uggghhhh…” Paula drawled out, “I’m soaked.” She pouted, looking down at her dress trying to wring out the ends. Although, she wasn't damp enough for that action but still took the dramatic measures to do so.

Kumatora ended up coming to her side to pat her on the back. “It’ll dry off~! No worries,” she said in a happy-go-lucky way. She was wet too, and her pink locks were sticking to the small dimples on her face.

As they were concerned for each other, Ness and Claus were trying to wring out their clothes as well. Since they were sitting up front, most of the water splashed and soaked their clothes heavily. However, with the small cool breeze, they would dry off maybe a half hour later.

In terms of their social condition, the boys didn't talk. However, Ness could see a little blush still stuck to Claus’ cheeks, and vice-versa. To avoid any more awkward silence, the orange haired boy looked back at Kumatora.

“That ride was super fun!” Claus said aloud, mostly directing it to her. He quickly left Ness’ side to go to his pink haired girlfriend. He slung an arm around her shoulders. “That was a good idea.” He gave her a smile and a thumbs up with his free hand.

Kumatora was caught off guard by this gesture and ended up flustering in front of Claus. She chuckled a little bit before saying, “Thanks!”

Meanwhile, Paula went over to Ness and asked, “Are you alright? Oh man you're way more wet than I am…” Paula threw in the last comment. She looked displeased at herself, but felt even more bad for Ness. Although, when she said that, Ness didn't pay attention the first time because he still had his attention on the other boy.

 _This guy…_ Ness thought.  

“Ness?” Paula poked his damp shoulder.

“O-Oh!” Ness snapped back into reality and turned to his girlfriend. He realized he was staring, and made up for it fast by getting closer to Paula and slipping his hand into hers. He did so smoothly enough to bring a smile onto the girl’s face.

“Sorry, I was just zoning out, babe…” the raven haired boy said innocently. “I'm fine! I didn't mind the water at all and I had fun. How about you though? You got your pretty dress all wet.”

Paula couldn’t help but smile at his concern. “I’m fine, it’s no biggie or anything.” She squeezed Ness’ hand a little.

Then everyone regrouped together. After that ride, it seemed like they needed to rest a little. The idea came up when Paula announced, “We should get something to eat and just dry off a little before doing anything else.” It sounded more like an order than a suggestion, but nobody else minded and wanted to rest, too.

There was a station with tables and benches for people to order food and sit down and eat outside. It sold common foods: burgers, pizza, fries, hot dogs, etc. Paula was feeling extra generous in the moment and offered to pay for everyone’s lunch. Everyone else took the offer, realizing that the food was overpriced. For Claus on the other hand, he just straight up forgot to bring money.

They said their thanks to the blonde girl then began eating and talking.

* * *

For the rest of the day after they had finished eating, all of them rode a few more rides before it actually started to look dark outside. 

Right now, the 4 of them sat together on the grass staring up into the dark sky as the amusement park started ending the day with fireworks. Ness sat with Paula, and Claus with Kumatora. The girls seemed to be enjoying their time, while the boys thought nothing more of the moment than just staring at the sky and watching things blow up into sparks.

For the most part, the couples sat far enough from each other to be out of range for hearing; they were engaging in their own separate conversations with their significant others.

“Today was so fun~!” Paula said cheerily to Ness. Currently, she leaned her head on Ness’ chest while the boy held her in his arms. “I hope you had fun too.” She cuddled closer to Ness. The raven haired boy just squeezed her tighter.

“Of course I did!” Ness said genuinely. “I really liked the double date idea. Kuma and Claus seem to be enjoying themselves.”

Paula smiled. “Thanks! And yeah, I’ve noticed.”

The two of them looked over to the other couple who were sitting a little bit away. They did so in a discreet manner, as if to check on their status.

Currently, Kumatora and Claus were just sitting next to each other. Nothing particularly romantic was happening, nor were they being as cuddly as the other two. They seemed to be chatting about something. They could see Claus talking about something, and Kumatora laughing at what he said.

Paula sighed in a content way. “They’re gonna be together, like forever,” she said, “they get along so well!” The blonde was very confident in them. “Do you think we’ll be together for a long time?” she asks. She felt hopeful of Ness’ answer.

However, Ness wasn’t ready for the question. He panicked on the perfect thing to say without it being obvious that he wasn’t 100% with Paula. They’ve only dated for at least 2 weeks, that question is almost impossible to answer genuinely. Ness admitted that dating Paula was only for the sake of Claus; he figured that having a girlfriend would mean he could revert back to how things used to be between him and Claus.

In the end that just earned him someone that had a high demand of… attention. Ness’ eyes flew to Paula.

But it wasn’t like Ness didn’t like her and just settled for her. He thought she was an amazing friend and a nice girlfriend to him. She’s only showered him with gifts and positive energy.

Being quick, Ness thought up and said, “I think we’ll be.” He pauses, then resumes talking, “As long as me and you never get tired of each other, we’re bound to be unbreakable!” The last thing he said sounded awkward to Ness, but to Paula, it just made her heart melt.

“Yeah, you’re right,” she agreed with a smile, then stayed silent for more fireworks to pop. Ness sighed internally of relief that she didn’t ask anymore questions like the previous one. He casually moved his arm to get into a cozier position to hug Paula. He held the figure in his arms protectively.

Although it was Paula in his arms, he couldn’t get his mind off of Claus just yet. He shifted his eyes towards the orange haired one, who was still talking and smiling to the girl in front of him.

 _They really do get along well,_ Ness acknowledged. _It’s like whenever Claus is talking to her he’s always smiling._

Ness grit his teeth then looked away and up at the fireworks to get his mind off of things. He breathed in and out slowly. _But… when we were on the Canyon Blaster..._

The raven haired boy was so sure that Claus was looking at him in a different way. _It can’t just be my imagination…!_ Ness insisted in his head. _He stared at me like… he wanted me. It felt so different._

Ness furrowed his eyebrows at the thought. He closed his eyes tightly. He finalized that he’s just overthinking everything that happened on the boat. He wanted his best friend out of his head.

_I’ve already committed… I’m going to forget whatever romantic feelings I have of him. I’ll shut down my heart for him if that’s what it takes._

_Claus… this is all for you. So please just be my friend again so we can forget and heal._

He gave Paula a small peck on the cheek, then ran his fingers through her soft, blonde hair.

...

Meanwhile, Claus and Kumatora were in the middle of a conversation.

“I didn’t really like that one ride after we ate,” Claus admitted. He made a look of defeat.

“Oh the one that flipped us over and just held us there?”

“Yeah.”

Kumatora nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that one is _okay…_ at most.”

“That one felt like the most painful ride of the day,” Claus added in, “my legs felt like they were burning and were gonna rip off at any moment.”

“Haha same!” Kumatora exclaimed.

Afterwards, it became quiet between them; only the booming noises of fireworks were audible. Kumatora discreetly scooted in closer to Claus then gently leaned against his shoulder. Claus noticed, not minding the contact.

“Hey,” she got his attention.

“What’s up?” Claus asked. His eyebrows went up.

“Remember when you told me that you’ve never had a girlfriend before?” She brought up a past conversation.

Claus didn’t have a good feeling of what was about to come next. “...Yeah. I do.”

“Does that mean you’ve never had your first kiss either?” she asked curiously.

“U-Uh…” Claus was a bit embarrassed. “Well, yeah. I can’t get a kiss if I’ve never dated anyone yet,” he said logically.

“Ah, I see…” Kumatora scooted in just a little closer. “Well…” She brushed up against Claus’ side. “You don’t need to worry anymore about having a first kiss now that you have me.”

Claus’ eyes widened a bit at that sudden statement. She wasn’t wrong, he thought. She may as well be his first if she was his girlfriend at this point. It was almost inevitable. Regardless, Claus couldn’t ignore the feeling of not really… _wanting_ to have his first kiss with her.

That was when the pink haired girl did something Claus didn’t expect to happen so fast. She locked eyes with him and stared deeply, making the boy know that she wanted something. She took her time before she narrowed her eyes and puckered out her lips a bit. That ‘something’ she wanted was now clear to Claus.

He stared at Kumatora, who still presented herself to him. Her lips looked soft, welcoming, and warm. The boy gulped because he wasn’t sure what his feelings were for Kumatora just yet. He bunched his hands into fists, and leaned in closer to the girl. Claus wasn't ready, he wasn't even sure if this was the right thing to do. 

But what other time would be more perfect than this, to receive his first kiss right now? After a fun day at the amusement park and sitting with Kumatora in the grass, staring at fireworks. Wouldn’t this be a moment someone would never forget?

He sat up in front of the girl and gently wrapped one arm around her waist. She complied sweetly and embarrassingly, a small tint of pink appearing on her cheeks. He erased the space between the both of them, and pressed his chest against hers. Her eyes fluttered shut by the action as Claus neared his face closer, his eyes still open. He brought his delicate mouth to Kumatora's, but stopped there, about an inch away. They both could feel each other’s soft breaths grazing against their lips.

Claus suddenly hesitated. Kumatora felt this, and decided on her own account to finish off the pathway to making contact.

_I... Can't do it._

"Kuma, stop." Claus backed his head away a bit as he hovered a gentle hand across her mouth. Kumatora got the idea and stopped what she was doing. They separated with the pink haired girl a little upset. 

Claus continued on candidly, "2nd day of us dating. I don't think I can... do this." His brows furrowed, upset in himself for disappointing her. Kumatora backed off a bit and looked away, trying to remain optimistic after Claus got her hopes up then demolished it.

“I’m not backing away from you because I don’t like you or anything, I just don’t feel like doing something like this with you quite yet...” Claus made a worried look at her. “It’s not your fault.”

“I-It’s okay! I understand…” Kumatora said. Claus noticed her voice crack a little. “I think I was going too fast, anyways…!” Her eyes watered up just a little bit before she blinked them away and stayed calm. She wasn’t used to getting rejected.

Seeing her like this made Claus feel bad, but at the same time, thought it was best to just be honest with his feelings. Lying and faking wouldn’t help anything in the long run, he thought.

“Yeah… I’m sorry,” was all Claus said in the end. 

“No no, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Kumatora looked defeated and wanted to leave as soon as possible. She felt like she exposed her true intense feelings to Claus, and with him rejecting her, she didn’t know what to do with herself. She wanted to cry, but definitely not here. She faked her emotions from there on.

“U-Um..” She looked away. “I… I’m getting pretty tired, now that I think about it.” She got up and dusted off her hoodie skirt. Before Claus could say anything else, she was already heading towards the other couple where she spoke to Paula.

“Paula…” Kumatora looked openly upset and needed to reach out to her best friend. Right then and there Paula could already tell she wasn't doing well. “I wanna go home…”

The blonde girl left Ness’ arms and then got up to comfort her friend. She put an arm around Kumatora and was already bringing her to the side, leaving Ness in the dust.

Ness’ eyebrows went up as he stared at the two girls talking amongst themselves, and then to Claus in the distance. The orange haired boy was looking at Kumatora, a bit upset for hurting her feelings. Then Ness and Claus made eye contact.

They weren't close enough to hear each other so Ness ended up mouthing, ‘What happened?’

Claus sighed and shrugged his shoulders. He mouthed the reply, ‘It was my fault.’ He was gesturing towards himself.

Ness’ eyes widened a little bit as he looked back at the two girls. Kumatora was in Paula’s arms, clearly crying. Paula was mouthing some words to her as she rubbed her back.

Ness took this moment to walk over to Claus and say, “Dude, what the hell did you do?” He sounded concerned, but not angry.

“Augghh.” Claus rubbed the back of his head in frustration. Even though Kumatora was the one to try to kiss Claus first, he felt bad regardless for denying her. “She tried giving me a kiss and I stopped her. That's it.” He frowned.

“...Oh.” Ness sounded really surprised. “Why would you stop her? That's a _kiss_ dude!” Although Ness was kind of glad to hear that from Claus, he played it off well that he was supporting him and Kumatora.

“Well I don't know!” Claus was unsure of the situation. He didn't know better since he's never had a girlfriend before; maybe he _was_ supposed to kiss her. She told him she had about 3 boyfriends before him, maybe she knew more about relationships than he did. Maybe she knew the right pace and he messed it all up.

“I just… didn't want to. I feel like it’s too soon! I mean come on!” Claus put his arms out. “I just met her yesterday!”

“You're not wrong,” Ness told him, “but you decided to date her and you should be ready for what's coming up. You probably really uh… hurt her feelings.” The raven haired boy tried to remain unbiased.

“No duh,” Claus said rudely. Ness just shrugged at it. A silence followed after. The two boys looked over at the girls who were still talking. Kumatora was starting to look a little better.

“So um. On the note of kissing…” Claus bit his bottom lip, wondering why he was bothering to ask what he was going to say. “Do you and Paula already… do that?”

“You mean cheek kisses, or?” Ness needed clarification.

“No I mean _real_ kisses, on the lips and such.” Claus got more embarrassed the more they talked about it.

“Hmm.” Ness gave him a blank stare, wondering why he was asking. He decided to toy with the situation a bit. “And what if we did?”

Claus didn't expect him to answer the question with another question. “U-Um…” He couldn't and didn't want to admit it was because he was nosy. Or maybe because he was a _bit_ jealous. Or both.

“Then congrats? I guess.” Claus looked a little sad.

 _Why am I even asking?? Ness is so nice and Paula is so straightforward. It’s a no brainer that they’ve already kissed!_ Claus shouted at himself, _You’re as dumb as always, me!!_ He turned a little bit away to hide his face from the boy in front of him.

Ness thought it was so weird for Claus act this way. He expected him to be glad for him, in the least. Why is it now that he seems to be rejecting the idea of him and Paula together? Having this thought in mind, he didn't really read into it any further. Claus just had problems of his own, he figured.

Ness was going to tell him the real answer, until Paula came over and interjected, “Sorry about the wait, guys. I think we should get going now.”

Ness and Claus nodded at her.

* * *

The ride home was very silent. The double date vibe was thrown out the window ever since Claus denied Kumatora’s kiss. Even the ride in the limo back home was changed; Kumatora sat with Paula while Ness sat next to Claus. Sometimes Paula would whisper something to the pink haired girl, but then that was it. Nothing else. 

Ness and Claus didn’t talk at all, either. Both boys tried their best to think little of the white elephant in the room, but it was hard. All that was left was an awkward silence.

Paula’s driver ended up dropping everyone home, with Claus being first, thankfully.

The limo braked slowly in front of Claus’ house. When it came to a full stop the orange haired boy took it as the signal to get off. He opened the door, let himself out, then turned back to everyone inside.

Despite the silence until then, Claus told everyone, “Well, g’night guys! It was hella fun!” He turned to Paula specifically. “Thanks for the invite.”

Everyone said their goodbyes back. He was about to leave, but guilt ate him alive from denying Kumatora. He decided to do just this one thing for her before leaving. The boy thought of it as a way of apologizing.

He brought himself inside the limo again and then brought his lips to Kumatora’s cheek; all while using one hand to cup her chin to keep her head still. Granted that it was just a cheek kiss, it was Claus’ first kiss to her. Kumatora’s cheeks turned a bright red in surprise. He ended up kissing her in front of the other two.

“Bye Kuma!” was the last thing Claus said before taking his final leave. He shut the limo door and quickly ran up to his house and went inside before anyone else could say or comment anything.

Claus shut the door behind him, all while gasping for air. He leaned his back against the door, and sank down to the ground.

That was the first time he's ever attempted to do something like that. It was kind of exciting, but the boy felt like he couldn't completely bask in the fact that he’s kissed a girl. Some part of him felt empty regardless of doing such a thing.

A small frown inched onto his face. He proceeded to walk up the stairs and back into his room, where he let out a small sigh.

...

Back in the limo...

After receiving the kiss, Kumatora was so embarrassed that she buried her face in her hands. Her face was red all over.

“Kuma!!” Paula squealed at her. She gave the pink haired girl a hug. “I told you so! He still likes you!”

“I-I guess you're right…” Kumatora was in a happy shock at the moment.

However, Ness discreetly glowered at the pink haired girl. A shadow seemed to fall over his eyes as his blood boiled. He wasn't directly mad at her, but seeing Claus do that with someone else... 

Ness’ fingers dug into the leather of the limo seats. He bit the inside of his cheek.

After making the plan of dating other girls to restore their friendship, Ness realized that he probably wasn't ready to see Claus have a girlfriend of his own.


	13. Too Close

It was a few days since Claus and Ness’ double date at the amusement park. So far, everything has felt normal. Nothing's changed; school was school and Claus just sat at home playing games and doing nothing. However, Claus has been getting  _ way  _ more texts from Kumatora. He wasn’t able to spend lunch time with her because they found out they had different lunch periods.

**_Flashback_ **

Kumatora and Claus were in the middle of passing period talking to each other.

“So what lunch period do you have? Maybe we can see each other then?” Kumatora suggested. She looked worried. “I hope we have the same lunch periodssss...”

“Oh uh…” Claus was sorting through his locker. When he was done he looked at her. “I have Lunch B, what about you?”

As soon as Claus answered, the pink haired girl went quiet. She made a sad squeak.

“NooOOooo!!” was all she said. She frowned and stuck out her bottom lip. “HOW IS LIFE SO CRUEL!?” she exaggerated. She went to go hug him and held him tight.

Claus chuckled at her silliness. “Hey no worries! It's not the end of the world. We can hang out some other time or between periods if we pass by.” Claus offered. He patted her head.

“Mm… okay…” She settled with what had to be.

However, Kumatora was still holding onto Claus when the boy clearly had to get going.

“U-Umm.” Claus rubbed her back. “Looks like I gotta head to class now!” He tried hinting it to her.

“Noo stay here with me!” Kumatora said playfully. She held him tighter to the point where the boy couldn't get her off.

“Ah… uhh..” Claus didn’t want to have to push her off in fear of hurting her feelings again.

So they stayed like that until the tardy bell rang.

**_End of Flashback_ **

Claus has been tardy to one of his classes for about 3 days now. If he gets one more he will literally have to get a parent conference or face expulsion. He was absolutely surprised that it came to this. He didn't realize how clingy Kumatora could be. He thought he was already irresponsible as is, but his girlfriend was on another level.

_ Even I bother to come to class on time!  _ Claus thought to himself.

He wasn't sure if he was okay or not with how their relationship has been. The conversations are fine, she's a nice girl, etc. But when she was with him, she was very much  _ with _ him.

It also didn't help that he was too chicken to make her sad. He would always be nice and change his character around her. Knowing himself, Claus thought it was almost insane how nice he can be to that girl. It was so unnatural of him. He also wouldn't be mean in general to anyone else around him if the pink haired girl was around.

Right now, Claus was at lunch with his usual friends. At the moment, he focused on eating his lunch and was keeping to himself for quite a while.

“Hey, do any of you guys have Geometry class right now?” Ninten pleaded.

Lucas and Jeff looked at each other for a second, then Lucas answered him. “Me and Jeff are in Algebra right now.”

“What?!” Ninten exclaimed. “You guys skipped Geometry already?”

Lucas rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. “Oh, yeah… hehe. But Claus should have that class right now!”

The attention went to Claus. As soon as that happened the orange haired boy answered very fast. “ _ No _ , I don’t have the review packet done.” He didn’t even bother looking at Ninten to know what the scarfed boy was going to talk about.

Ninten looked ready to cry, but not seriously. “CLAUS you were my only hope!” He put his head down on the table. “Auughh… the final is in a week…”

Lucas felt a little bit bad for Ninten, and proposed something, “Hey! I'm not too worn out on Geometry, though, I think I could still help you do your packet, if you need me…!”

Ninten’s head perked up at the idea as soon as Lucas said it. A relieved smile came over his face as he went to hold Lucas hands. “Oh, thank you so much man!”

The blond blushed a little. “Yeah no problem! When was the packet due anyway?”

“Friday!” Ninten answered.

Lucas spit out his milk. “Friday?!”

Jeff finally chose to come into the conversation. “Wait like  _ this _ Friday, or...”

“Yeah, this Friday.”

“Dude, that's tomorrow,” Claus randomly came in. He said it calmly at first, but after the shock settled in he jumped out of his seat and slammed both of his hands on the table. “HOLY FUCK IT’S DUE TOMORROW!”

Ninten was caught off guard, too. “WHAT!”

“WHAT THE HELL, NINTEN?!” Claus yelled at him, “You knew when it was due and didn't realize it until  _ now _ ?!” He fumed.

“Hey, I am a  _ very _ busy guy, okay!” Ninten talked back.

“Playing C.O.D. after school all day is not being busy!” Claus said.

Ninten flinched at how on point Claus was, “W-Well at least I have an excuse! What's yours, huh?”

“I have a  _ GIRLFRIEND.”  _ Claus said that tragically and with heavy emphasis.

“Oh big deal!” Ninten waved that off. He then mocked Claus. “Oh I'm Claus and I have a girlfriend so I can't focus on school—”

“ENOUGH!” Jeff shouted. “Instead of arguing you kids should just get your packet done!”

Luckily, that knocked some sense into the two. Claus and Ninten quit yelling.

“Okay, OKAY! You're right.” Ninten turned his attention to Lucas. “Look, I'm going to come over to your house later whether you like it or not. Got it? Okay.” Ninten basically decided for both of them.

“What am  _ I  _ going to do?” Claus asked.

“I dunno, die?” Ninten suggested.

“Sounds fine to me,” Claus accepted.

“I can help both of you…!” Lucas said, wanting them to be okay.

“No, no… I don't want to stress you out with the both of us,” said Claus.

“You can just copy and get it done, though,” Ninten added.

“But I actually want to  _ learn _ what I'm doing for once,” Claus admitted, “if I'm not gonna learn anything then I don’t even want to turn this packet in.”

“That's noble of you, but terribly idiotic,” Ninten commented. Claus rolled his eyes, not letting the scarfed boy piss him off.

“Fine, you wanna learn something then? Ask Ness!” Ninten suggested randomly. He wanted to partially annoy Claus and also give him a good idea.

“No way…” Claus shook his head. “That's the last option I'm going to. Miss me with that shit—”

Before he knew it, the scarfed boy was already calling Ness on his phone. The hatted boy on the other end picked up.  _ “Bro, Claus said he really needed help on his Geo packet… yeah he really said that… he said you can come over after school that's what I was gonna do too with Lucas… alright bye!” _

Ninten put down his phone and then stayed silent but casual after the phone call. Claus just sat there with his mouth wide open. 

“Oh yeah he said he was down to come over.” Ninten smiled like nothing was wrong.

Claus was steaming. “You seem to have an early death wish…” He stared daggers at Ninten. The other just shrugged and grinned.

_ Rinng! _

“Welp, that's the bell!” Ninten got up and pat Claus as he passed by him. “See ya later today~!” 

With that, the rest of the boys said their goodbyes and went to their desired classes. Claus went on his own way, massaging his temples.

_ Killing Ninten is definitely on my bucket list,  _ he thought strongly.

* * *

Claus finally made it to his last period, Biology. There, he knew he would find his girlfriend waiting for him at the door to go inside the room. Claus walked around the corner and already saw the pink haired girl who was standing at the nearby lockers just outside the door, looking down at her phone, and sometimes up and around for her boyfriend. For some reason, Claus hesitated, but he went towards her anyway. Besides, ever since they’ve started dating, this was the usual. The boy combed through his hair before coming into sight.

“Claus~!” Kumatora sang when the boyfriend came near her. She gave him a momentary hug and asked him, “So how was your day?”

“It was good,” Claus replied. He didn’t say any more than that, then proceeded to take her hand and lead her into the room. The girl smiled all giddy.

When they came into the classroom, everyone’s eyes shifted towards them. It used to be weird for Claus a few days ago, but now he’s moreover unfazed by it. Kumatora and Claus used to sit separately but now that they’ve gotten together, Kumatora sits next to Claus in the back of the class all the time now. 

They whisper a lot, but when the teacher talks and the room is silent, Claus tries to tell Kumatora as nicely as he can to ‘Be quiet.’ The girl giggles, but then continues to try and strike conversations. The boy replies half-heartedly, but tries the best he can, and as quietly as he can. Honestly, it’s getting kind of stressful when he actually wants to pay attention, then ends up not understanding in the end because he’s trying to half-listen to the teacher and Kumatora.

In the end, however, Claus isn’t mad. He figured he’d just have to go with the flow. Kumatora is quite talkative and assertive, but luckily not in the physical way. Ever since Claus said no to the kiss, the girl seemed to be more patient with him. In any other way, she was very energetic. Claus honestly wonders where she gets all her energy from. 

Before they knew it, after learning about some Punnett squares and recessive/dominant alleles, class was over. The assignment they’ve been given as partners was more or less 75% done. The couple turned it in then walked out of the classroom when the bell rang. They headed in the direction where the front of the school was, and also where the buses were.

“Hey so, do you wanna do anything after school today?” Kumatora asked, excited.

Claus paused, then replied, “I’m sorry, I won’t be free tonight.”

“Huh, why not?” She tilted her head.

“I procrastinated real hard on my Geometry review packet, so now I gotta do it all tonight.”

“Woah, when’s it due?”

“Tomorrow.” Claus bit his lip at the word.

“Eeeh?!” Kumatora was shocked. “Well, looks like you got a lot to do then!” She encouraged him, but was a bit disappointed. The small disappointment in her voice was clear to Claus. The boy felt responsible for her feelings.

“No worries! It’s just for tonight, love,” Claus said, hoping to cheer her up.

“Mmmm okaaay…” She slouched her shoulders for a second, then brought them back up again. A smile graced her face, and that relieved Claus.

The girl wanted to stay with the boy for longer, until her parents arrived at the front to pick her up.

“Oh, gotta go!” Kumatora said fast. She quickly gave Claus a hug then pecked him on the cheek before leaving. The boy let it happen and waved to her as she went. After her parents drove off, he headed for his bus.

* * *

As soon as Claus arrived home with Lucas, they both went into their separate rooms. However, before doing so, Claus asked something.

“Yo when’s Ninten coming?” asked Claus.

“Soon!” Lucas answered. “He said he was going home first to change then he’s heading over.”

“‘Kay!” was the last thing Claus said before going into his room and closing it. He swung his backpack off his shoulders and threw himself onto his bed. He let out a satisfying sigh as he stretched himself over his bed. A long day at school is over. He looked at his bag that was slumped on the floor. Now it was time for homework. Long, overdue homework.

_ Maybe I should just copy like Ninten said _ . Claus immediately went back on his words. He shook his head to snap himself out of it.  _ No, I gotta learn this shit! I need to graduate, get a good job, then make lots of money and buy a really big house and own 6 Teslas that are all different colors. _ He summarized his entire life in his head. He got up from his bed after a mini rest and opened up his bag again, then pulled out a rather thick packet of papers. He held it in his hand begrudgingly. He could’ve sworn it felt like 1 inch thick.

Claus pouted at the packet. He had 2 weeks to do this. Then again, he found himself in this situation multiple times, and has regretted not doing it about 100% of the time. He put it on his desk then took a seat. He turned on his lamp and got ready to do some hard work. Might as well get some work done before Ness comes over to help him out.

Oh, that’s right. Ness is coming over. Claus was already trailing off into his mind. His best friend still didn’t answer his question from last time if he and Paula already kissed on the lips. Claus bit the inside of his cheek. 

_ LIKE IT MATTERS ANYWAY! _

He clicked his mechanical pencil and looked at question 1 to get his mind off of that idea.

_ “Here is triangle ABC in which AC=BC, where angle ACB is 96 degrees…” _

Claus started to draw out his diagram on the paper before reading the rest of the question. After, he read the rest.

_ “D is a point in ABC such that angle DAB is 18 degrees, and angle DBA is 30 degrees. What is the measure (in degrees) of angle Ness?” _

Claus was caught off guard for a second and had to do a double take at the question one more time. He rubbed both of his eyes and readjusted his vision on the paper. 

_ “Ness is a point in Ness such that angle Ness is 18 degrees, and angle Ness is 30 degrees. What is the measure (in Ness) of angle Ness?” _

“AAHHH!” Claus screamed and knocked his packet off his desk.

Looks like doing some work before Ness comes was thrown out the window. With that, Claus put his head down.

To be very honest with himself, Claus was pretty nervous that Ness was coming over. However, not the kind of fearful nervousness he used to have. It felt really… different; like an excited feeling. The emotion made Claus feel good in a way. 

At the same time, he still wasn’t sure about his feelings. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but being aware that it was just going to be him and Ness alone felt exhilarating; which was a certain feeling that he’s never felt before. Not before Ness confessed to him, or even after. The orange haired boy excused this feeling and just grabbed his phone.

He brought up his messages with Ness and texted,  _ ‘hey when are u getting here?’ _

It was only a few seconds before he got a message back.  _ ‘Almost there, my mom picked up Ninten on the way. Think we’ll get there in 5.” _

_ “k” _

Claus stared at his phone. That was the end of that conversation, but that excited Claus even more. He got up from his chair and paced around a little until enough time was successfully killed. He knew they were here right when the bell rang throughout his home.

_ “I’ll get it!”  _ Lucas called from outside Claus’ bedroom. All Claus heard was Lucas’ footsteps hitting the stairs as the boy ran down them.

Claus walked out of his room casually and looked down from the second floor at the front door. Lucas opened it, revealing the two expected boys; Ninten was grinning and Ness had a welcoming smile on his face.

“Hey guys!” Lucas greeted them happily.

“Yooooo...” Ninten kept ‘yo’-ing until he was completely inside the house and comfortable. He took off his shoes and left on his socks. He held a geometry book in his hand.

“What’s up?” Ness also added in. He followed Ninten’s steps and took off his shoes as well. Both boys had on their backpacks that they usually carried with them to school.

“Nothing much, just relaxing,” Lucas said. He led them up the stairs. 

It wasn’t until Claus was close enough that he finally said his greeting, “‘Sup!”

“Nice to see you, nerd,” Ninten waved with a smile.

“That’s gonna be me after tonight no mistaking it,” Claus turned Ninten’s insult into a little joke. The boys laughed together. 

“Alright! Time to get down to business!” Lucas clapped his hands together. “Me and Ninten will be in my room,” the blond told the other two, “if you guys get stuck on anything you can just come inside, my room will be open.”

“Gotcha.” Ness gave him the thumbs up. Following after, the boys split up, with Ninten going with Lucas, and Ness following Claus. They closed the doors behind them and started on their way to completing their review packets.

“Okay.” Ness got his stuff ready. He sat on the foot of Claus’ bed and put his backpack down next to him. He unzipped it and pulled out his binder in which he removed his own review packet. From another pocket, he took out a green mechanical pencil. “Let’s do this!” 

Claus went to go sit at his desk. He looked over at his best friend who looked very ready to get stuff done.

“So, where’s your packet?” Ness asked.

“Uhh…” Claus went to look towards his desk, but it wasn’t there. Then he remembered that he freaked out earlier and hit it to the ground somewhere. His eyes shifted to the floor and looked around until he saw it at the corner of his room, all disorganized. 

One of Ness’ brow rose. “Why’s that over there?” he asked, interested.

“No reason, I just hate Geometry, is all,” Claus replied nervously, earning a small chuckle from Ness. He went to go pick up his own packet from the floor and put the papers back together.

“Haha! Okay. By the way I’m pretty much done with my packet. Did you do any?” the hatted boy wondered.

“I couldn’t get past question 1,” Claus admitted. He looked away from Ness whilst rubbing the back of his head guiltily. “To be honest I wasn’t really  _ planning _ on doing it until Ninten brought it up. I figured I might as well do it.

“Wow. You didn’t even bother to look at it the entire 2 weeks we’ve had it?” Ness smiled at him. “Sounds just like you.”

Claus groaned and laid his head on his desk facing Ness. The raven haired boy got up and put his own packet next to Claus’.

“Just copy mine!” Ness offered nicely. “I’m pretty sure I got most of them right.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Claus said, “but I don’t wanna copy all of it, it seems unfair.”

“I mean you’ve always copied my homework, what makes this so different?” Ness encouraged. “Don’t worry, man.”

“But the test is in a week!” Claus panicked. “I won’t know anything! Then the teacher will get all suspicious seeing how I did the packet but failed the exam.”

“C’mon he won’t look  _ that _ hard into it. You’re overreacting. For now, just get full points to cushion your grade, then do your best on the exam and boom, pass with a C!” Ness laid out the possibility to Claus.

“Alright, fine dude,” Claus finally agreed. Ness smiled at him and then scooted his packet closer to Claus’. He stood behind the orange haired boy, who was sitting down, and brushed against his shoulder.

“If anything, I’ll explain each question and answer as you copy. Sounds good?” The hatted boy grinned.

Claus turned a little pink on the cheeks and agreed. “Y-Yeah… that should help.” For a moment, Claus is reminded how good of a friend Ness always was to him. Without him, he would still be stuck doing this all alone in frustration, but whenever Ness would come around he just made things easier for him. It’s like the raven haired boy would help him in anything.

With that, Claus picked up his pencil and started to copy. His hand shook a little bit.

“For question 1, first you have to…” Ness started off on a tangent. He lectured him throughout many questions and gave him tips on how to do certain problems. The orange haired boy listened and asked questions where it was needed. Claus felt like Ness was a better teacher than the actual Geometry teacher. 

However, while he was copying, Claus’ thoughts started to drift a bit to the point where he was copying mindlessly, and Ness’ words became inaudible. He was caught up in his thoughts about the situation.

_ Damn, Ness is smart…  _ Claus thought,  _ he has really nice handwriting, too. _ Then his thoughts started trailing off even more.  _ How does he manage to get good grades, do sports, and handle a girlfriend? It’s like God made the perfect human being. _

“Uh Claus?” Ness said his friend’s name. “Claus?” he repeated, tapping his desk.

“Oh— wha?” Claus came back to reality. Apparently Ness noticed him spacing out.

“Were you even listening?” the boy asked. “Did I lose you somewhere?”

“No, not at all!” Claus nervously replied. He stopped writing.

“Ah okay,” Ness accepted, even though he knew he was lying. “You were also copying the wrong answer under the wrong question. You skipped a question.”

Before Claus could realize that, Ness already took Claus’ pencil out of his hand and was erasing the work he copied down. Whilst doing that, Ness was craned over the other boy who was still sitting in his desk chair. The hatted boy didn't think twice about how close he was to Claus, but Claus noticed and got very flustered. He could feel Ness’ chest pressed against his back. His face returned to being very pink.

“There.” Ness swiped off the eraser dust. He placed the pencil back in Claus’ hand with care. “Go ahead and rewrite it.”

“Alright… thanks,” Claus said slowly. He did as told without much fuss. 

In Ness’ point of view, everything felt so normal that it was nice. Although, a part of Ness felt like Claus only asked him to come over because he needed help. However, Ness threw the thought aside and was grateful he was even here with his friend in the first place.

Meanwhile, Claus tried his best not to let his thoughts trail off again. How he felt for Ness at the moment still confused him. A part of him felt like he liked the boy a whole  _ lot. _ Claus was appreciating too many things about Ness right now.

In the middle of lecturing, Ness randomly said, “I wanna sit down, should we take a break for a bit?” The raven haired boy already slapped off his hat on the bed and lied down. He let out a huge breath.

“Yeah, I don’t mind,” Claus told him, putting down his pencil. He turned in his chair then got off to sit on his bed with Ness. “I feel like my brain is gonna fry if I keep taking in any more information.”

“Hehe. You at least getting it?” Ness wondered.

“Yes, actually. Like  _ way _ better!” Claus told him with a smile. Ness looked at that smile and couldn't help but smile back as a reaction.

Afterwards, a silence crept up into the air as the two went for their phones and checked up on them. They looked through their notifications and then replied back to messages. Ness was still lying on his back while Claus sat against one of his pillows. The vibe was pretty chill.

“...So how’ve you been?” Ness started a new topic for them to talk about. He looked over at Claus for a moment before getting back to his phone.

“Besides this packet, I'm doing fine,” Claus answered simply.

“That’s good. How’s your girl?” Ness added in. The boy locked his phone screen and looked to the boy who was sitting on his right.

“Things have been… uhh.. alright.” Claus didn’t know how he should answer that question. He figured he would just tell Ness things are fine so that the boy wouldn't bother him about it.

“What's ‘alright’ supposed to mean?” Ness rose a brow. Claus’ reply wasn't really enough to clarify if things were going good or not. Ness was genuinely curious, but he wasn't sure why he had to know. What would he even do with the information? Some part of him hoped their relationship wasn't that good. Ness couldn't lie to himself, seeing Claus and Kumatora get along  _ more  _ than friends bothered him a lot. The thought made him feel crazy jealousy, but he was able to mask his face perfectly.

“Well, y’know…” Claus had to think before talking. “...We’ve been meeting up more and talking a lot whenever we can. We don't have the same lunches sadly but I see her when our classes are close!” Claus sounded like he was really into Kumatora.

“Oh I see…” Ness was disappointed, but what did he expect?

“And how about you, Ness?” Claus asked the same thing back as casually as possible. The orange haired boy was also hoping things weren't okay between Ness and Paula. Although, he didn't feel the same as Ness did; Claus didn't really get jealous at all more than he felt Ness growing farther apart from him because of Paula. The distancing made him feel lonely.

“We’re doing great!” Ness made a small smile. “I… got to meet her parents the other day.”

“Woah  _ what? _ ” Claus was surprised, “Does that mean you guys are getting pretty serious?”

“Well, yeah I think so...” Ness scratched the side of his neck. “Her parents really like me. They say out of all of Paula’s boyfriends that they like me the most.”

“Damn, that's cool.” Claus averted his eyes. “That's like the highest praise from parents!”

“Yeah…” Ness trailed off. He couldn't really be happy telling Claus about it. “Although I don’t understand why they would say that to me, only meeting me once for dinner.” the raven haired boy shrugged.

“I mean, they probably picked up on how nice you are,” Claus stated through experience.

“Ya think so?” The corners of Ness’ mouth inched into a sheepish smile. “You think I'm really nice?”

“Yup,” Claus confirmed. The orange haired boy grew nervous, admitting it. He almost felt like telling Ness that he was the nicest person he knew, but he thought it was extra to do that.

“I think you're hella nice, yourself,” Ness said to the orange haired boy with a short laugh. He half mocked Claus and also meant it.

Claus felt genuinely embarrassed by what his best friend told him. He masked it and replied, “Wow, thaaanks,” sarcastically.

In the moment, the two enjoyed each other’s presence. For once it didn’t feel awkward, and it was like old times again. But this situation felt many times better than usual since they didn’t act normally around each other for a while; referring to the times Claus tried avoiding Ness for a week or so, and also them falling into arguments before.

In fact, the orange haired boy felt so comfortable that he went away from his pillow to lie next to Ness. He stretched comfortably next to him, then settled on his side facing his face towards Ness.

Claus doing this is usually normal between them, but Ness was quite surprised at how naturally Claus did it. Ness felt his face get a bit hot at their proximity. His heart rate increased a few beats more per minute. It didn’t help that their faces were also just a foot away from each other.

“Man I'm so lazy,” Claus came out with the first thought on his mind, “I don’t want to go back to working on the packet, dude.” He faced Ness and locked eyes with him. He made an exasperated expression.

“You're going to have to, soon,” Ness pointed out, looking back at his friend. “It’s getting pretty late, my mom is going to pick me and Ninten up in a few hours.” Ness was secretly keeping the time in check in order to make sure Claus finishes before he has to leave.

“Oh fuck, you're RIGHT.” Claus sat up, then looked at Ness who also got up with him. “We need to finish!” He jumped off the bed fast and bounced onto his desk chair.

“NESS C’MERE I need your smarts right now!” Claus patted his desk rapidly to signal Ness to get his butt over there.

Ness snickered at what he said then stood up and came to his side again to resume working on the packet.

This time, Ness was a bit more short and sweet with his explanations. Claus understood each question, but couldn't really solidify it since the review packet kept on changing topics. Regardless, this was a huge help to Claus and much better than not knowing anything.

At one point, they reached the questions near the end and Claus immediately stopped Ness from talking about them.

“Oh— WAIT! I know these!” Claus said, amazed at himself, already writing down stuff.

“Really?” Ness rose a brow, not expecting this. “Okay then.” He gave Claus a pat on the back and let him do the problem. He watched the boy solve it pretty fast, then looked at Ness’ packet to double check. Their work was different, but the answers were the same. The raven haired boy was silently impressed.

“Niceeee…” Claus said to himself. He looked to Ness. “Bet you're wondering how I did it?”

“To be honest, yes I am." Ness thought Claus didn't study anything.

“Long story short, this is the only part I read the textbook on.” Claus made a short laugh. Then he tapped his chin with the top of his pencil. “Sometimes I think I  _ should _ study, but naaah~” 

Ness laughed at his comment. “I mean, it looks like you could understand it if you tried.”

“I know right?” Claus gave him a smug smile. “But I guess I don't need to since I have you,” the boy said effortlessly.

Ness felt a little bit flustered by that. It made him more than happy to hear what he said. “Hehe…” Ness made a nervous laugh. “Well you already know I’ll always be here whenever you need me.”

It was only then that Claus realized he started down this topic, and replied hesitantly, “...You better be.” He made an angry face jokingly and poked at Ness’ cheek with his finger. He then let out another smile after the tip of his digit touched Ness’ cheek.

The gesture made Ness grin. The boy responded by grabbing Claus’ cheek and then pinching it. “I  _ will _ ,” Ness said with familiar confidence in his words.

When Claus felt Ness’ hands on his face, even though it was short, his cheeks turned rosy. Claus looked towards his packet fast.

“Okay, g-good!” The orange haired boy put his attention back to the packet. “Alright, let’s finish this.”

“Sure thing,” Ness replied.

...

“Aaah~! Yes, we’re finally done!” Claus decided to jump onto his bed and lie on his back. Ness watched him while smiling, still standing next to the desk.

The packet had come to a close and the sun was setting. It was around 7 p.m. when they finished; neither they nor the other pair of boys seemed to have talked to each other since they’ve separated into their rooms.

To Ness’ surprise, he still had time to hang out even by the time they finished. He had a good hour until his mom would arrive and take both him and Ninten home.

“I wonder if Ninten and Lucas got to finishing their packets…” Ness scratched his cheek from curiosity. He went from standing to sitting on the edge of Claus’ bed. “Should we check up on them and help if they're still stuck?”

Claus thought for a second. The right answer would be to help, but after getting finished he wanted nothing more than to relax and chill. “Weeeell…”

From hearing that, Ness already knew the answer. “‘Weeeell…’ what?” he mimicked his friend.

The orange haired boy giggled a little. “I'm pretty sure they're doing fine~” He waved it off. “My brother’s a genius. He probably  _ did _ the packet for Ninten.”

“Haha! True.” Ness agreed. He then decided to be a little extra. “That makes me a genius too though, right?” He nudged his friend who was still lying down. “You're not very short of being a Ninten yourself.”

“Hey don't compare me to a subhuman like Ninten, ‘kay?” Claus shot back at his friend jokingly. “I know I copied but at least I learned something.” He sat up midway through talking.

“Good, good.” Ness nodded his head, satisfied with their hard work.

“...” Claus was at a loss for words momentarily, then said, “...Thanks for coming over, I really couldn't have done this without you.” In the end, Claus was grateful Ness came over, and was a  _ little _ thankful to Ninten for forcing Ness to do so. A bit flustered by what he said, Claus looked away. “I just wanted to let you know, is all!”

After hearing that, Ness couldn't help but smile. He thought the way Claus said that to him was so cute. He wanted to give him a hug and tell him that it’s no problem, but refrained from doing something too touchy. 

Instead, he just settled with saying, “You don’t need to mention it. I already know.” He patted the other on the head. Claus blushed yet again. He could feel Ness’ fingers combing through his hair. Some part of him didn’t want the boy to stop because it felt so nice. Claus didn’t question the feeling of wanting Ness to touch him.

After Ness brought his hand away, Claus felt his excitement die down a little. He still craved the raven haired boy’s touch and decided to use the situation to his advantage.

“Well, I just wanted to make sure you knew how grateful I was.” The orange haired boy scooted to Ness’ side of the bed and leaned towards him. Claus opened up his arms and wrapped it around Ness’ shoulders to thank him.

Ness flinched in surprise. His eyes were wide open at how Claus willingly gave him a hug on his own. Slowly, but surely, Ness brought his arms around Claus too. He was nervous, but if Claus hugged him first then it didn’t matter if he hugged back. The black haired boy wrapped his arms around Claus’ lower torso.

The two were in a warm embrace for a few seconds, but to Ness’ surprise, Claus didn’t break off of him. The orange haired boy even began to lean his head on Ness’ shoulder. It took so much strength from Ness to not pounce on Claus right this second. Ness responded to Claus’ head leaning with a tightening of his hug. Whatever Claus was doing or thinking, Ness wanted to savor this moment.

However, the raven haired boy could not go on any longer. Before he knew it, something unexpected came over him. He could feel it underneath his shorts.

Ness panicked.  _ Why now?  _ There was no way he could let Claus notice this, it would probably freak him out and he would be casted away from him again. He stayed in the hug and awkwardly turned his bottom half away from Claus’ view.

In order to end the hug once and for all, Ness gave Claus a pat on the back and backed out of it. “Well uh…” He couldn’t think of anything to explain why he abruptly wanted out of the embrace, and ended up saying, “I gotta use the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

“Uh. Sure dude!” Claus said to him, but by the time he finished saying that Ness was already closing the door behind him.

Claus got a little sad at how fast he left that negative thoughts started to cloud his mind.

_ Maybe he doesn’t like me anymore? _ Claus didn’t even know why he was even thinking that at all. All he knew was that the thought of Ness liking him wasn’t as bad as… the first time he found out about Ness’ feelings. Claus sighed as he felt his heart drop a little. He had no idea what he wanted from his best friend anymore.

* * *

_ Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK. _

Ness repeated the curse word in his head the entire way to the bathroom. When he finally got there, he closed and locked the door behind him and finally felt safe. He let out a huge breath of air before he stared at himself in the mirror. First, his face, which was rosy colored, then down to his shorts. A huge bulge was there, making Ness a little pissed off at himself. He shook his head, then lowered the toilet seat to use as a chair.

“Damn it,” Ness cursed under his breath. Knowing these situations, it wasn't going to go down any time soon, and the bulge is too noticeable at this point.

Ness sighed. Looks like he has to get down to business, very fast business.


	14. Feels a Little Bit Better

This wasn’t the first time the raven haired boy had to do this. In fact, it has happened many times before over his best friend, and quite frankly, he couldn’t help it. Although, Ness getting an erection at Claus’ house or even in front of him was a first. It must’ve been so long since Claus hugged Ness like that.

Ness shook his head and his brows furrowed. He was upset at himself for having to do something so shameful. However, he had to be quick so that Claus wouldn’t be waiting on him for too long.

From there, Ness brought his hands down to his shorts and began by using one hand to lift up his striped tee a little bit. With the other hand, he unbuttoned and brought his zipper down. His shorts rustled as it slid further down his thighs, revealing his red and black plaid boxers. Through the premade hole in them, he could already see his erection peeping out. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he slid those down as well.

In front of him was his naked, circumsized penis, which was hard enough to stand on its own. Ness knew the drill and carefully wrapped his fingers around his shaft. The slight touch sent shivers down his spine as he tightened his grip on himself.

First, he slowly worked his hand up and down his shaft, letting his thumb run over the head of his penis whenever he stroked upwards. The constant motion excited him to no end as thoughts of Claus naturally appeared in his imagination. His eyes gradually closed as he leaned backwards.

He remembered touching Claus as if it happened yesterday. It has been a while since then, but whenever he would masturbate, the thoughts fueled his excitement.

_“Ness…”_ _A vision of Claus was in Ness’ head. In the vision, Ness had Claus pinned down on his bed. The orange haired boy kept looking at Ness with lewd eyes, as if wanting more. His face was red, and his moans increased in volume the more Ness would feel him up. Claus was stripped of his shirt and mini beads of sweat trailed down his chest and down his abdomen._

“Hah...” Ness breathed out loud. His strokes got stronger and faster as he felt his body getting hotter. Thinking of Claus drove him crazy. 

_ Claus brought his lips to Ness’ ear. “I want you to fuck me…”  he whispered erotically. Afterwards, Claus licked his own lips seductively for Ness to see as he went to go strip off his shorts. Claus unbuckled his belt and slid his shorts down along with his boxers. Ness acted in response by feeling Claus’ naked waist, then trailing his fingers down further. There, he caressed his friend’s hips. The touch made Claus whimper in pleasure. _

Ness bit down his lips. He could feel himself climaxing at any moment. His erection throbbed in his hand as he kept pumping his shaft faster and harder. The overwhelming pleasure made Ness groan before getting the last stroke in; that was when he blew his load into the palm of his hand. His body jolted forwards as his white semen spurted out.

By the time it was over, Ness felt extremely tired and out of breath. He managed to catch all of his semen in his hand, which he washed away using the faucet. While drying his hands on a nearby towel, a feeling of guilt came over him, but he had to admit that he felt way more relieved than the moment he came into the bathroom.

_ Knock knock! _

The sudden sound at the bathroom door startled Ness. Just from hearing it, he was already rushing to get his boxers and shorts on.

_ “Helloo? How long are you gonna be in there dude?”  _ Ninten’s muffled voice was heard behind the door.  _ “I gotta use the bathroom… like baaaadly.” _ A thud was heard on the door from Ninten leaning his body on it from the other side. The sound made Ness jolt in panic.

“S-Sorry!” Ness called out to him. “Something I ate earlier got me fucked up! Eheh…” The raven haired boy faked a bathroom trip and flushed the toilet before proceeding to wash his hands rapidly. He looked at himself in the mirror: a very red face is what he saw, but it was fading away. Ness looked back at the toilet to see if he left any mess anywhere else, and it seemed to be fine. At least, fine enough to let Ninten in without any suspicion. 

Ness unlocked the bathroom door and opened it, seeing a Ninten who was holding his thighs together.

“FINALLY! I was waiting here forever man!” Ninten said, rushing past him. 

Ness got out as well, not really saying anything. After Ninten closed the door, all that could be heard was urine hitting the toilet bowl. Ness sighed with relief as his feelings of panic died down.

The raven haired boy looked below him one more time to check his pants. No bulge, no fly was open, everything was okay. He ran his fingers through his hair to fix it; he felt some sweat on his forehead but it wasn’t a big deal. 

He headed back to Claus’ room and opened the door to find his friend still in the same spot, but looking at his phone.

Claus put down his phone and focused his attention on Ness when he came back in. While Ness was using the bathroom, he was texting Kumatora. Although, his head was somewhere else. He pondered if Ness still liked him for some reason.

“Are you okay?” was the first thing Claus asked. “You were in the bathroom for like 20 minutes.”

“O-Oh um.” Ness rubbed the back of his head as he averted his eyes. “I think I ate something bad earlier today, I didn’t feel so good.” He made up a very quick excuse whilst biting the inside of his cheek.

“Damn.” Claus was genuinely concerned. “We have some medicine downstairs if you need it.”

“Nah, I’m good, I think I should be fine now.” Ness smiled with nervousness. He headed over to Claus’ side and sat next to him. “Thank you though!”

“Yeah no prob.” Claus patted his friend on the back then went back to staring down at his phone. His expression changed to a stressed out one; Ness couldn’t help but ask why.

“What’s up?” Ness asked. 

Claus looked back at him. When they made eye contact was when Claus realized Ness was referring to him and what was going on in his phone.

“Eh…” Claus wondered if it was a good idea to complain to Ness about Kumatora. So far, the relationship seemed to be overwhelming Claus; ever since they’ve gotten more into being boyfriend and girlfriend, he felt like more of his time is being taken away from him and not in a good way. He felt like he couldn’t study, play games, or breathe. She needed a lot of attention and when she didn’t receive it she would get sad, which in turn, made Claus feel bad.

Ness noticed the pause from Claus, and told him, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

That seemed to be the key to making Claus talk. “No, it’s fine! It’s just Kumatora and stuff…” the boy trailed off.

The mentioning of Kumatora’s name immediately piqued Ness’ interest. “Really? What’s wrong, are you guys doing alright?” The raven haired boy felt like Claus never really voiced his feelings about his current relationship with Kumatora.

“We’re  _ alright… _ ” Claus said with emphasis, “but it feels like she’s a bit too dependent on me or something.” He scratched his cheek. “Or is it just me? I don’t know.”

Hearing that come from Claus made Ness sigh of relief internally. Regardless, the boy was still there to help Claus out with her. “What do you mean exactly by ‘dependent’?”

That triggered Claus’ ranting. “Well it’s like we talk together  _ all _ the time. And when we’re not next to each other we’re always texting! It sounds like no big deal but it gets hard to keep replying on time and then she gets sad if I don’t.” Claus tapped his fingers on his thigh before he thought of more things to say. “And now I’m failing biology! I have her in that class and I can’t pay attention because she’s always chatting about something. How does she even do that?! She has so much energy dude…”

Claus looked Ness in the eyes. “Do you get me?” His facial expression was worrisome about the whole thing.

Ness was surprised. “Of course I do! It sounds like it really sucks…” The raven haired boy rubbed the back of his own neck. “But you could just tell her that you have stuff to do. And in biology, just tell her to be quiet because you’re trying to pay attention.” The answer sounded so simple to Ness. He wondered why these things were even problematic to Claus.

“Look, I just can’t, it’s not that easy,” Claus said in defeat. “I don’t want to make her feel bad like when I told her I didn’t want to kiss her when we were at the amusement park. I feel like I can’t do anything about these things...”

Ness looked worried for his best friend. He knew Claus wasn’t the type to give in to someone and let them push him around, but he knew deep down that Claus was a person that didn’t want to disappoint anyone. Ness thought carefully of what he should say next.

“I know you don’t want her to be sad, but this relationship isn’t just about her.” Ness put a hand on Claus’ shoulder. “It’s about you, too. And I don’t think she knows the trouble she’s causing you.”

Claus’ eyes brightened a little bit by Ness’ words. He never really thought about it that way, and it amazed him at how much Ness knew what to think of these situations. Maybe that’s why his relationship with Paula is doing so well? This disheartened the orange haired boy.

“Hey, don’t let this get you so down, Claus.” Ness neared his head towards him and looked him in the eye. Claus’ eyes were slightly red; Ness thought it was because of Kumatora, but Claus was stuck over his thoughts on Ness and Paula. “Kumatora just really likes you, she can’t help but talk and pay attention to you all day. To an extent this is her fault, but you have to let her know what she’s doing wrong or your guys’ relationship won’t work out.”

“I see....” Claus sighed, blinking away tears before they would come out. “Man, I didn’t know having a girlfriend would be this hard.”

“Yeah, it’s definitely a challenge.” Ness made a small laugh.

“I just thought that having a girlfriend would be like having a best friend,” Claus spoke his mind, “but instead they’re like a different species of people that have completely different needs and wants.”

“Yeeaaah but y’know, you’ll figure it out, Claus.” Ness gave his friend a confident smile. “I’ve known you for a really long time, I know you can do it.”

Claus felt warmth in his heart as he stared at Ness’ face. He was always so good at cheering him up and giving advice. Instinctively, Claus returned a small smile to Ness. His stresses about Kumatora were gone for the time being.

For a moment, Ness got lost in Claus’ eyes. He didn’t realize that when Claus began smiling, he didn't break eye contact since then, and neither has Claus. The two boys just stared at one another in silence, basking in the satisfaction of each other’s presence.

Then, without noticing, Ness slowly brought up one of his hands and laid it against Claus’ cheek. He gently caressed it like he was handling a delicate flower. He used a thumb to feel the surface of his skin. It was soft.

Claus didn’t know how to react, all he could feel was his heart rate increase. He didn’t want to stop what Ness was doing, or rather, he didn’t mind what the boy was doing at all. The orange haired boy’s face turned a noticeable pink. The entire time, Claus didn’t feel disgusted, bothered, or any of the previous feelings he’d experience before when Ness would come near him. 

However, when Ness started to notice what he was doing, he immediately jerked his hand away from Claus’ face.

“Fuck, sorry! I didn’t realize…” Ness felt very bad for not paying attention to his own actions around his friend. He berated himself in his own head, thinking that he probably made Claus feel uncomfortable and weird around him.

However, as soon as Ness pulled away, Claus reached for Ness’ hand and brought it back to his own face again. There, Claus leaned his cheek against the palm of Ness’ hand and nuzzled it, then looked straight into his best friend’s eyes. The mere action itself made Ness’ face go red.

Full of embarrassment, Claus told him as best as he could, “It… It’s fine. Don’t worry.” The boy squeezed Ness’ hand for a moment. “We’re best friends, anyways…” Claus tried to make an excuse. “I don’t mind the small touch...”

Ness did not understand Claus’ intentions at the moment. He was so confused, he always thought his best friend was very homophobic towards him. Although, he was right that it was just a small touch… but it’s not really something that best friends would do…!

The black haired boy gave Claus a really weird look whilst also being flustered. “What?” was all he could manage to say.

“I mean—” Claus paused for a moment. “I know I’ve been really paranoid of you and stuff. But it’s okay now....” The orange haired boy felt like it wasn’t a good enough explanation so he continued to say more. He looked serious. “We’ve argued in the past about really small things, like that one time you slept over and you were changing in front of me, or how I couldn’t even sit in your lap in the dare, and— everything else that I don’t even remember.”

Ness listened very closely to Claus. At this point, Ness’ hand that Claus was holding onto lowered to the bed. The orange haired boy still held it while talking.

“I just wanted to say…” Claus felt like it was so  _ hard _ to even talk. “that I’m… really s-sorry…” As soon as he said that, some tears were already welling up in his eyes. “For making you sad and… hurt…”

All Claus could think about now was what Ninten told him. How much he hurt Ness by not even trying to understand him. He made his best friend worry a lot about how to still maintain their friendship when he was there judging him for having feelings for him. He let go of Ness’ hand to wipe some tears flowing down his cheek.

“...Ah...” Ness was surprised that Claus realized how much he put him through. 

“Fuck… I was being such a bad friend to you… and all you ever do is help me and be there for me.” Claus wept intensely. “I don’t deserve you as a friend…!” The boy shrunk in his place and faced his stare downwards. His hair made a sad shadow over his face. His expression wasn’t discernible from being covered by his fists that were constantly wiping his face.

Ness snapped out of his shock, and replied, “Hey, that’s not true, Claus!” Even though Ness said that, Claus still kept his head down. The raven haired boy drowned in sadness; he didn’t like to see Claus so upset. Ness sighed, and scooted closer to his friend.

Ness put an arm over Claus’ shoulder and patted him to get his attention. “It was my fault, too, okay? Don’t take the entire blame for this one…” The boy tried to cheer Claus up. “When I did those inappropriate stuff to you back then, I basically asked to be hurt.”

Claus had to admit, Ness had a point, but he still couldn’t forgive himself for reacting so distant to his friend. The orange haired boy rose his head up and looked at the other. His face was a red, wet mess. He was sobbing really hard just a few seconds ago.

Ness grimaced at him, and instinctively got up to fetch him some tissues. He picked up the entire tissue box off of Claus’ desk and brought it to him. While the boy took some tissues to blow his nose, Ness pet him on the head.

“Stop crying, now,” Ness told him. “There’s no use being sad over a situation like this. It’s all in the past, anyway. But… it makes me really happy that you feel this way about how you treated me.”

Claus felt better from Ness’ words. “... Does it really?”

“ _ Yes,  _ really,” Ness emphasized. He let out a breath of air. “For a good amount of time I didn’t think that you cared about me.”

“I do…” Claus muttered.

“Yeah, I can tell.” Ness passed him a little smile. “So you should feel better now, and not worry about it.”

Claus nodded, but didn’t heal from his roller coaster of emotions so soon. However, letting Ness know everything that’s been on his mind made him feel a lot better. It was as if a ton of weight was lifted off his shoulders; and even better, it was like the elephant in the room was gone.

Caught up in their conversation, Ness’ phone vibrated and the boy just barely managed to get to it. When he did, his mom was on the other end of the call.

_ “I’m out in the front, come out when you’re ready.” _

“Alright, mom,” said Ness before clicking off the phone.

Claus already knew what that meant. “Your mom is here already?”

“Yeah… I gotta get going. I have to let Ninten know we have to go.” Ness was already getting his packet and other things into his backpack. When he was done doing so, he headed out of Claus’ room, then to Lucas’. Claus followed suit right behind him.

Ness opened the door and the first thing the two see is a Lucas and Ninten on the blond’s bed. Ninten was on top of the other, and Lucas laid there innocently right under him. The scarfed and blond boy immediately turned their attention to Ness and Claus who was standing there in shock.

Ness’ eyes were wide open, and Claus had a huge scowl on his face. Lucas blushed at their sudden appearance while Ninten was embarrassed so much that his face went white.

“U-Uh OH UM Lucas you have a little something on your face dude!” Ninten quickly dusted Lucas’ cheek that clearly didn’t have anything on it. Afterwards, he got off of Lucas and got up and looked in the boys’ direction. “So what’s up~?” He made a nervous smile. He was already very determined to not admit anything he was up to with Lucas.

Ness opened his mouth to question what the heck was just happening, but decided not to. He facepalmed, then said, “My mom’s here now, you should get ready.”

“Roger that,” Ninten answered. The scarfed boy got his text book and his packet in his hands before walking out of the room.

Claus and Lucas went to see Ninten and Ness off and followed them downstairs. The departing boys got their shoes on, then proceeded to head out the front door. 

“Thanks for your help Lucas, you really saved me!” Ninten showed his appreciation to the blond before giving him a short hug. 

“Bye Ninten!” Lucas grinned, a little tint of pink showing on his face.

The scarfed boy then turned to Claus. “Laterrr!”

“‘Kay bye.” Claus looked unamused by Ninten. He was suspicious about what was going on in that room, but just let it slide for _now._

After Ninten said bye Ness told Lucas with a smile, “See ya.” He waved a hand goodbye. Following after, Ness went towards Claus.

The raven haired boy spoke quieter so that only Claus could hear what he said.

“Hey, everything’s okay between us, alright? Now just promise me…” Ness cupped a hand under Claus’ chin, and rose it upwards to look him more clearly in the eyes. The action made Claus’ heart throb. “Keep your chin up for me. Sadness doesn’t suit you.”

Claus blushed heavily at that, before Ness let go of him and loudly said, “Bye~!” He smiled his confident smile on the way out with Ninten.

“U-Um… bye!!” Claus nervously said, waving at the both of them.

Once out, Lucas closed the door after them and locked it. He looked at his twin brother, who looked zoned out.

“Ehem…” Lucas cleared his throat. “Didja finish the packet with Ness?”

“Uh, yeah I did. You?”

“Yeah, I helped Ninten throughout it.”

“Cool.”

An awkward silence. The two clearly had questions for one another but they had mutual feelings to just go back to their rooms and relax for the rest of the night. They didn’t need to say anything to know that this was their agreement.

Casually, they went back to their rooms and relaxed after saying their ‘Goodnights.’ However, for Claus…

Once the orange haired boy entered his room and locked the door behind him, he ran up to his bed and flopped onto it face down. He kicked his legs and made a small scream into his pillow. He thought over the course of events that happened today and hit his head on his pillow momentarily.

What just happened was so…  _ embarrassing _ ! He couldn’t believe he cried in front of his best friend like that, nor that he spilled the beans on everything he felt leading up to this point. 

Claus flipped over to lie on his back. He stared at the ceiling. He had to admit, he was glad he did it though. Claus was confident that the relationship between him and Ness wouldn’t be so weird anymore, or full of problems.

He smiled to himself and shut his eyes, falling into a comfortable sleep with those calming thoughts.


End file.
